LIBRARY. 

OF  THE 

University  of  California. 

^Jy^/^:J^, ^: L/^^vA^Ga-x-tP^^iJ, 

Class 


XTbe  XDlniverstti?  ot  (Tbfcaao 

FOUNDED  BV  JOHN  D.  ROCKEFELLER 


ISOLATION  IN  THE  SCHOOL 


a  dissertation  submitted  to  the  faculties  of  the  graduate 

schools  of  arts,  literature,  and  science,  in  candidacy 

for  the  degree  of  doctor  of  philosophy 

(department  of  pedagogy) 


BY 

ELLA    FLAGG    YOUNG 


VERSIT^ 


PRINTED    BY 

Zbe  mnivecdits  ot  Cbicago  ptcss 
1900 


Ml 


vveR  A  R 

^  or  THf.  \ 

o> 


INTRODUCTION. 


Every  state  and  territory  in  the  United  States  has  a  system  of  free 
schools.  The  attitude  of  the  American  people  toward  education  is 
evidenced  by  this  general  establishment  of  schools  and  the  liberal 
provision  for  their  support.  The  influence  of  this  attitude  on  education 
itself  has  been  twofold  :  its  function  and  scope  have  been  enlarged  ; 
its  intrinsic  value  and  prestige  have  been  questioned.  The  inadequacy 
of  the  old  conception  of  education  to  meet  the  demands  and  the 
doubts  has  become  such  a  prolific  source  of  disquietude  and  dissatis- 
faction that  ere  long  a  new  one  must  needs  be  constructed.  The  new 
standard,  with  its  adaptation  to  social  and  economic  conditions,  bids 
fair  to  be  the  dominant  factor  in  the  social  product  of  the  future. 

There  are  many  phases  to  the  problem  of  evolving  a  highly 
organized  social  institution  which  shall  have  that  ease  in  adjustment 
and  that  adaptation  to  ends  which  characterize  thought  in  its  free 
activity.  To  some  the  application  of  the  biological  conception  of 
an  organism  to  the  school,  both  in  its  structure  and  workings,  is  very 
attractive.  There  is  one  serious,  almost  insuperable,  objection  to  the 
application  of  this  conception  to  the  school.  Take,  for  example,  the 
human  organism.  The  heart,  the  lungs,  and  the  stomach  have  each 
the  same  general  end  in  view,  the  nourishment  of  the  body  ;  yet  time 
will  not  readjust  the  functions  of  these  different  organs  so  that  their 
specific  aims  will  be  materially  changed,  and  in  some  respects  inter- 
changed, in  securing  a  higher  degree  of  digestion  and  assimilation  of 
food.  On  the  other  hand,  as  the  interrelation  between  the  various 
parts  of  the  school  becomes  more  effective,  it  will  be  evident  that  the 
particular  stress  now  laid  upon  one  part  may  be  transferred  advan- 
tageously to  another.  If  the  conception  of  the  school  and  the  specific 
duties  of  its  parts  has  been  cast  in  the  crystallized  form  of  an  organism, 
it  will  be  most  difificult,  if  not  impossible,  to  transfer  emphasis  of 
function  and  aim.  Indeed,  the  question  may  be  raised  right  here 
whether  the  opposition  today,  in  the  pedagogical  as  well  as  the  general 
mind,  to  a  revision  of  the  special  aims  and  methods  of  the  different 
schools  does  not  rest  mainly  on  the  rhetorical  figure  of  this  inflexible 


4  ISOLATION  IN  THE  SCHOOL 

organism.  Herbert  Spencer,  in  enlarging  upon  the  conditions  which 
led  him  to  observe  the  analogy  between  society  and  living  things, 
naturally  starts  with  the  "cell  theory."  His  argument  only  intensifies 
the  objection  herein  raised,  for  nowhere  does  he  consider  the  necessity 
for  transfer  of  function.     He  considers  development,  not  transfer. 

The  western  peoples  have  found  themselves  in  the  nineteenth 
century  confronted  with  such  puzzling  problems  regarding  the  life  of 
modern  society  that  a  new  department  of  investigation  has  come  to  be 
recognized.  As  the  method  of  the  student  of  social  conditions  has 
advanced  from  the  collection  and  classification  of  data  to  the  search 
for  those  laws  which  permeate  the  social  world,  it  has  become  evident 
that  the  school  also  must  be  subjected  to  examination  from  new  and 
many  points  of  view.  Influences  which  are  hostile  to  its  best  develop- 
ment must  be  counteracted  ;  not  by  wordy  condemnations,  but  by 
making  their  opposites  active. 

This  essay  endeavors  to  contribute  something  toward  the  illumina- 
tion of  some  of  those  phases  of  the  life  of  the  school  in  which  are  made 
manifest  the  difficulties  involved  in  the  maintenance  of  a  continuous 
intellectual  and  moral  advance  throughout  the  system  because  of  the 
influence  of  isolation.  The  trend  of  the  argument  will  be  in  accord 
with  this  general  statement :  the  level  of  power  in  the  educational 
system  is  determined  by  the  degree  in  which  the  principle  of  coopera- 
tion is  made  incarnate  in  developing  and  realizing  the  aim  of  the 
school.  The  questions  involved  will  be  discussed  in  three  divisions  : 
(i)  the  various  parts  of  this  social  institution;  (2)  some  recent  con- 
structions of  psychological,  ethical,  and  logical  modes  that  must  be 
recognized  in  a  rational  conduct  of  the  school ;  (3)  the  function  of  the 
school  in  a  democracy. 

Chicago,  .March,  1900. 


I. 

THE  PARTS  OF  THIS  SOCIAL  INSTITUTION. 

No  MORE  remarkable  chapter  can  be  found  in  the  history  of  the 
upward  march  of  the  human  race  than  the  one  bearing  on  education. 
Though  the  avowed  aim  of  the  school  has  been  the  protection  of  its 
wards  from  the  dangers  of  ignorance,  yet  so  limited  has  been  the  con- 
ception of  the  means  of  protection  that  acquaintance  with  the  values 
of  the  past  has  been  construed  as  an  efficient  and  all-sufficient  engine 
for  defensive  and  offensive  operations  in  the  struggle  of  life.  The 
material  with  which  the  scholars  have  worked  being  traditional,  and 
often  that  which  has  been  discarded  from  the  life  in  the  world  outside, 
the  spur  to  intellectual  activity  which  comes  from  the  unsolved  prob- 
lems in  science,  art,  and  ethics  has  been  lacking.  As  the  information 
acquired  rested  largely  on  the  verbal  memory,  a  method  which  should 
bring  into  play  the  elements  of  strength  peculiar  to  each  individual 
was  not  indispensable.  Reformers  differed  merely  as  to  where  the 
emphasis  on  tradition,  or  where  the  stress  of  activity  in  the  mind, 
should  be  laid.  Not  until  Rousseau  (that  faithless  father)  demanded 
that  education  make  human  welfare  its  active  principle  did  modern 
pedagogy  begin  to  live.  In  these  conditions,  briefly  outlined,  lies  the 
explanation  of  that  strange  chapter  on  education  extending  from  the 
days  of  Plato  and  Aristotle  to  a  point  in  time  less  than  one  hundred 
and  fifty  years  back. 

For  the  understanding  to  accept  human  welfare  as  the  aim  of  the 
evolution  of  human  power  is  only  the  first  step  in  securing  a  thorough- 
going comprehension  of  what  is  involved.  So  pressing  is  the  solution 
of  the  problem  presented  by  the  single  question  of  gaining  a  liveli- 
hood, to  say  nothing  about  a  competency,  that  the  consideration  of  the 
well-being  of  humanity  begins  with  Herbert  Spencer's  weighing  of  the 
claims  of  egoism  and  altruism,  with  a  marked  preponderance  on  the 
side  of  the  former.  With  interest  in  self-preservation  highly  developed 
on  one  side  only,  the  non-rational,  it  was  but  natural  that  modern 
theory  and  practice  should  halt  long  on  the  plane  where  education  was 
viewed  as  that   discipline  which  enables  the  members  of  the   human 

5 


6  ISOLATION  IN  THE  SCHOOL 

family  to  make  the  ascent  independently  and  alone.  Slowly  is  the  gen- 
eral mind  beginning  to  grasp  the  idea  of  the  unity  whose  factors  are 
egoism  and  altruism,  individualism  and  organization. 

The  effort  which  the  American  people  are  making  to  secure  a  clearer 
comprehension  of  conditions  involved  in  the  construction  of  the  new 
ideal  has  necessitated  a  focusing  of  attention  on  the  recognized  instru- 
ment—  the  school.  Chief  among  the  defects  discovered  by  this 
focusing  is  the  separation  of  the  school  into  schools  —  kindergarten, 
elementary,  secondary,  college,  university  —  each  based  upon  a  theory 
and  method  which  in  itself  is  original  and  final.  These  sharp  divisions 
are  not  the  results  of  differentiation  within  a  recognized  unity;  on  the 
contrary,  they  are  the  legitimate  outcome  of  the  manner  in  which  the 
idea  of  the  school  has  come  to  include  all  the  various  departments 
mentioned.  The  parts  have  been  brought  together  mechanically,  thus 
making  the  accepted  conception  of  this  great  social  institution  that  of 
an  aggregation  of  independent  units,  rather  than  that  of  an  organiza- 
tion whose  successful  operation  depends  upon  a  clearly  recognized 
interrelation,  as  well  as  distinction,  between  its  various  members  and 
their  particular  duties. 

One  of  the  striking  signs  of  the  unrest  resulting  from  the  influence 
of  isolation  throughout  the  school  is  the  widespread  dissatisfaction 
with  the  loss  of  time  and  the  ineffective  work  which  are  often  attendant 
upon  the  entrance  of  the  child  or  youth  into  the  next  higher  depart- 
ment above  that  whose  course  has  been  completed.  Some  think  they 
have  discovered  a  principle  underlying  the  sharp  differentiation  when 
they  suggest  the  insertion  of  a  connecting  class  between  the  kinder- 
garten and  the  elementary  department ;  or  when  they  advocate  the 
establishment  of  special  schools  to  act  as  "feeders"  from  the  high 
schools  to  secondary  institutions,  which  in  their  turn  will  overlap  the 
college  course.  The  introduction  of  these  links,  which  are  not  recog- 
nized parts  of  the  great  system,  suggests  the  existence  of  two  condi- 
tions :  (i)  The  failure  on  the  part  of  each  school  to  secure  a  working 
knowledge  of  the  method  and  aim  of  the  other.  Shocking  as  is  the 
conduct  of  those  selfish  parents  in  James's  What  Maizie  Knew,  it  is  no 
more  so  than  that  of  the  members  of  teaching  corps  or  faculties,  who 
wrap  themselves  in  their  togas  pedagogical  and  know  little  of  the  con- 
ditions  from  which  their  pupils  have  come  and  into  which   they  will 


PARTS  OF  THIS  SOCIAL  INSTITUTION  7 

go,  except  through  information  obtained  by  quizzing  the  shrewd  child 
or  youth.  (2)  The  maintenance  by  the  higher  school  of  the  traditional 
qualifications  for  admission  to  its  membership,  without  reference  to  the 
changes  which  psychologic  study  may  have  introduced  in  the  theory 
and  method  of  the  lower  schools.  Although  it  holds  true  that  the 
instructors  in  a  given  subject  should  be  competent  to  state  the  condi- 
tions upon  which  one  can  assume  the  work  required  by  them,  yet  it  is 
equally  true  that,  with  occasional  exceptions,  the  nearer  a  faculty  stands 
to  long-established  educational  institutions,  the  more  authoritative  will 
be  the  voice  of  tradition  within  its  fold. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  successful  issue  of  the  efforts  of  interme- 
diary classes  and  schools  points  to  the  necessity  for  an  investigation 
into  and  determination  of  sound  pedagogic  method  for  the  different 
states  in  the  unfolding  life  of  the  child,  the  youth,  the  young  man,  and 
the  young  woman.  It  is  not  a  transition  period  that  should  command 
attention,  for  if  there  be  such,  then  it  is  a  distinct  period  of  itself;  but 
it  is  the  two  consecutive  states  which  should  be  understood,  each  with 
its  positive  methods  and  interests,  yet  evolving  so  gradually  out  of,  or 
into,  the  other  that  the  line  of  demarcation  is  imperceptible.  How  can 
there  be  clear  insight  into  conditions  lying  beyond  one's  sphere  of 
activity,  if  there  be  not  cooperation  between  the  members  in  the  differ- 
ent spheres  ?  Here  and  there  the  educational  world  gives  evidence  of 
an  awakening  on  the  subject  of  the  need  for  the  involution  of  coopera- 
tion, as  well  as  differentiation,  in  the  effort  to  make  the  welfare  of 
humanity  its  goal.  The  awakenings  are  only  sporadic,  and  often  take 
on  the  form  of  an  exchange  of  grievances  rather  than  the  interchange 
of  suggestive,  impersonal  criticism.  This  is  the  result  of  long-continued 
activity  which,  because  isolated  and  complete  in  itself,  restricts  the 
field  of  its  operations  and  the  power  of  its  initiative.  When  there  is 
an  interplay  of  educational  thought  between  the  kindergarten  and  the 
elementary  teachers,  between  the  high-school  and  the  college  faculties, 
and  all  along  the  line,  sentimentalism  and  dogmatism  will  give  way  to 
scientific  method  in  the  study  of  a  true  correlation  of  forces  which  are 
but  slightly  organized  at  the  present  time.  That  mobility  of  spirit 
which  characterizes  an  interplay  of  thought  between  different  groups  is 
the  basis  of  true  cooperation,  for  each  mind  in  each  group  must  exer- 
cise its  powers  of  origination  and  execution.     It  would  be  interesting 


8  ISOLATION  IN  THE  SCHOOL 

to  investigate  the  historical  conditions  under  which  the  various  depart- 
ments of  the  school  have  arisen  and  been  gradually  incorporated  in 
the  general  scheme  of  education,  but  this  inquiry  is  analytic  of  present, 
not  historic,  conditions. 

That  which  first  attracts  one's  attention  in  the  consideration  of  the 
individual  parts  into  which  this  loose  organization  resolves  itself  is 
the  composition  of  the  teaching  corps  or  faculty.  Until  the  establish- 
ment of  state  universities,  all  college  and  university  communities 
regulated  their  inner  policy  independent  of  public  control,  and  as  a 
result  their  faculties  were  known  through  a  few  prominent  members 
only.  It  is  within  a  comparatively  recent  period  that  these  faculties 
have  been  subjected  to  comparison  and  criticism  by  the  public  at 
large.  Doubtless  the  manner  in  which  they  have  stepped  out  of  the 
college  halls  and  have  taught  and  debated  in  the  open  court  has  done 
more  to  break  down  the  traditions,  which  made  a  broad  chasm  between 
them  and  the  world  at  large,  than  has  the  founding  of  universities  by 
the  different  state  governments.  It  is  not  surprising  that  the  modern 
spirit,  which  interests  itself  in  all  classes  and  conditions  of  humanity, 
should  be  measuring  the  power  of  those  whose  special  work  is  the  most 
advanced  with  the  attainments,  culture,  and  method  of  those  whose 
work  lies  with  the  great  mass,  only  an  infinitesimal  part  of  which  ever 
reaches  the  college.  Hence  there  are  two  factors,  the  faculties  them- 
selves and  the  modern  spirit,  which  are  breaking  down  the  divinity 
that  has  hedged  the  college  and  university  method.  Not  to  be  a  dis- 
tinct body  receiving  students  from  the  lower  schools,  but  to  become  a 
part  of  the  great  corps  which  is  molding  the  race,  is  one  of  the  duties 
in  the  future  of  the  college  faculties.  Between  the  prevailing  condi- 
tions, which  are  beginning  to  change,  and  the  necessary  conditions, 
which  will  bring  knowledge  of  the  aims  and  methods  in  the  earlier 
departments  of  the  school,  are  many  steps. 

Teachers  in  the  academy  and  high  school  have,  until  recent  date, 
been  beyond  the  pale  of  public  and  general  criticism.  Professional 
life,  spent  in  a  limited  field  of  traditional  reproduction,  has  been  very 
like  that  in  the  college  faculties. 

Upon  turning  to  the  public  elementary  school  we  find  a  teaching 
corps  which  is  ever  under  the  search-light  of  the  public  gaze.  Here 
may  a  comprehensive  survey  be  made  of  the  influence  of  isolation. 


PARTS  OF  THIS  SOCIAL  INSTITUTION  9 

Starting  with  the  theory  that  the  public  schools  are  inherently 
opposed  to  change,  adverse  critics,  upon  assuming  the  aggressive, 
demand  a  radical  change  in  their  theory  and  practice.  To  most  of 
the  dissatisfied  and  the  critical  this  demand,  coupled  with  an  enumera- 
tion of  some  petty  customs  still  retained,  seems  a  satisfactory  explana- 
tion of  the  cause  of,  as  well  as  a  prescription  of  an  efficacious  remedy 
for,  the  weakness  and  the  mechanism  deplored  most  deeply  by  the 
teaching  corps  itself.  When  reform  stands  for  change  chiefly,  its  out- 
come will  have  little  or  no  intrinsic  value. 

The  saying,  "  As  is  the  teacher  so  is  the  school,"  was  for  many 
years  the  expression  of  the  teacher's  responsibility.  In  the  course  of 
time,  it  was  made  more  incisive  ;  "  The  teacher  is  the  school."  From 
this  it  was  but  a  short  cut  to  charging  the  "  inherent  opposition  to 
change  "  upon  the  teachers.  Nothing  could  be  more  perplexing,  more 
amazing,  to  the  accused  than  this  chawge.  They  do  not  find  it  neces- 
sary to  appeal  to  the  written  documents  to  refute  this  accusation. 
Memory  furnishes  ample  data.  The  older  teachers  through  their 
experience  as  teachers,  and  the  younger  through  their  experience  as 
pupils,  can  rapidly  summon  evidence  on  every  topic  included  under 
"  The  Theory  and  Practice  of  Teaching."  Each  of  these  topics  might 
be  outlined  in  three  parts  :  the  conditions  in  the  early  stage,  the  time 
of  the  beginnings  of  school  systems  ;  the  conditions  during  the  period 
of  organization  and  perfection  of  mechanism,  the  period  of  retrogres- 
sion ;  the  conditions  at  the  present  time,  which  to  the  careless  observer 
seem  a  return  to  the  first,  though  they  are  not,  for  in  that  which  has 
been  evolved  there  are  implicit  new  and  vital  principles.  The  follow- 
ing will  illustrate  this  development  . 

a)    Loose  classification  of  pupils  and  subject-matter. 
b')    Narrow  and  uniform  grading  of  each. 

c)    Elasticity    in    promotion    of    pupils    and    expansion    of    subject- 
matter. 


a)    Close    adherence    to    text-book,    indiscriminate    verbal    memoriz- 
ing. 
3)    Oral  method,  disappearance  of  verbal  memorizing. 
c)    Combination  of  text-  and  reference-books,  some  memoriter  work. 


lo  ISOLATION  IN  THE  SCHOOL 

d)    The  three  R's  -\-  general-culture  lectures. 

b^    Rigid  limitation  to  three  R's  +  "  useful  "  branches  only. 

c)    Teacher  and  pupil  carrying  from  five  to  ten  different  subjects. 

a)    Twenty-minute  out-of-door    recesses    in    forenoon    and    afternoon 

session. 
b')    Sessions  from   two  and   a   half   to  three   hours   long,  without   any 

physical  exercise,  recreation,  or  relaxation. 
c)    Calisthenics,  games,  whispering  recesses  in  every  session,  with  out- 
of-door  recesses  in  the  long  session  added. 

As  teachers  recall  the  glowing  ardor  of  superintendent  and  prin- 
cipal, as  well  as  the  vigorous  efforts  and  heroic  struggles  of  the  teach- 
ers in  these  various  movements,  all  unite  in  saying,  The  advance  of 
the  public  school  like 

"the  emigrant's  way  o'er  the  Western  desert  is  marked  by 
Campfires  long  consumed,  and  bones  that  bleach  in  the  sunshine." 

Change  has  been  written  large  over  every  theory  and  method  of 
instruction  and  management  attempted  in  the  brief  school  life  of  those 
who  now  constitute  the  public-school  teaching  corps ;  and  yet,  oppo- 
sition to  change,  the  conservatism  of  the  teaching  force,  is  said  to  be 
the  cause  of  the  prevalence  of  theories  and  methods  not  in  harmony 
with  the  time  spirit  of  the  last  decade  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

What  is  the  influence  of  the  many  changes  made  in  a  way  that  is 
hostile  to  the  spirit  by  which  the  highest  type  of  character  is  devel- 
oped in  rational  beings  ?  It  is  doubtless  true  that,  as  a  rule,  teachers 
are  not  commanded  to  make  changes  in  their  educational  theory  and 
method,  but  when  they  know  what  changes  are  desired,  a  feeling  of 
loyalty  to  the  originator  as  a  superior  officer,  or  the  ambition  to  rank 
high  in  the  estimation  of  that  official,  or  the  love  of  something  novel, 
makes  the  majority  prompt  in  adopting  the  new,  without  previous 
thought  as  to  its  desirability,  without  activity  of  the  intellectual  con- 
science. 

What,  on  the  other  hand,  is  the  influence  on  the  superintendent  or 
the  principal  of  habitually  performing  the  function  of  originating  and 
changing  ideals  for  others  ?  It  certainly  does  not  make  for  the  high- 
est type  of  character.     It  tends  toward  the  creation  of  fixed  ideals  to 


PARTS  OF  THIS  SOCIAL  INSTITUTION  II 

be  described  for  realization  by  others.  Eventually  the  originator  finds 
established  in  the  school  a  lifeless  model,  with  a  few  of  the  features  of 
the  original,  rigidly  set  in  alto-rilievo,  making  a  caricature  of  what  was 
to  its  author  an  ideal  permeated  with  a  great  principle  of  mental  life. 
Pessimism  and  iconoclasm  often  follow  in  the  train  of  such  a  discovery. 

Much  has  been  said  recently  regarding  the  examination  and  certifica- 
tion of  teachers.  Superintendents  of  city  schools  have  indorsed  the 
statement  in  the  Report  of  the  Committee  of  Fifteen  that  "  the  super- 
intendent should  have  power  to  appoint  from  an  eligible  list  all 
assistants  and  teachers  authorized  by  the  board  of  education,  and 
have  unlimited  power  to  assign  them  to  their  respective  positions,  and 
reassign  them,  or  remove  them  from  the  force  at  his  discretion." 
Sufficient  emphasis  has  not  been  laid  on  two  facts.  These  two  are  :  (i) 
in  six  of  the  ten  largest  cities  the  eligible  list  is  made  up  from  the 
results  of  an  examination  given  by  the  superintendent ;  (2)  the 
uncultured  and  non-progressive  principals  and  teachers  now  in  service 
in  the  schools  must,  at  some  former  period  of  time,  have  been  in  the 
judgment  of  the  superintendent,  among  the  best  applicants  for  certifi- 
cates. Stress  is  laid  upon  these,  not  for  the  purpose  of  entering  into  a 
discussion  of  the  rights  and  duties  which  should  inhere  in  the  office  of 
superintendent,  but  to  indicate  the  absence  of  that  interaction  between 
the  workers  and  their  work  which  should  exist,  and  which  would  keep 
alive  the  mental  process  in  the  individuals  of  the  educational  force,  so 
that  many  of  the  best  among  the  applicants  for  certificates  would  not 
become  inefficient  while  actually  engaged  in  teaching. 

The  teaching  corps  in  any  system  of  schools  will  attain  a  high 
degree  of  efficiency  only  when  it  is  unified  by  a  unity  in  aim.  At 
first  glance,  the  usual  statement  of  the  corps  — "  Our  aim  is  to  educate 
the  children,  to  make  good  citizens  of  them,  to  fit  them  to  be  useful 
members  of  society" — seems  to  indicate  a  singleness  of  aim  on  the  part 
of  teachers,  principals,  and  superintendents  that  is  encouraging.  An 
interpretation  of  this  statement  shows  great  diversity  of  opinion  as  to 
its  meaning.  The  aim  settles  down  to  the  carrying  out  of  the  course 
of  study.  As  the  superintendent  makes  the  course,  the  end  secured  is 
satisfactory  in  the  degree  in  which  it  harmonizes  with  the  superintend- 
ent's ideal  as  projected  in  the  outline.  The  unity  of  aim  in  the  three 
parts  of  the  teaching  corps  lacks  the  essential  of  unity  in  origin.     The 


12  ISOLATION  IN  THE  SCHOOL 

more  the  aim  is  defined  by  the  superintendent  or  the  principal,  the  less 
unity  will  characterize  it  in  the  teaching  force. 

Two  objections  will  be  urged  against  the  implication  that  all  should 
be  active,  not  only  in  realizing,  but  in  setting,  the  aim  of  the  school, 
(i)  The  school  cannot  have  so  many  different  aims  as  there  are  teachers 
connected  with  it.  If  active  participation  in  originating  and  cooperat- 
ing means  diversity,  then  this  objection  is  well  grounded.  (2)  Teachers 
are  satisfied  with  the  present  method.  The  relations  are  pleasant 
in  the  system.  No  one  feels  downtrodden.  Consideration  must  be 
shown ;  teachers  are  too  busy  to  have  the  duty  of  assisting  in  planning 
the  course  of  study  added  to  their  labors.  Anyway,  they  have  no 
ideals  to  set  up. 

The  problems  connected  with  the  development  of  the  individuality 
of  the  teacher,  and  the  unification  of  the  aim  in  the  large  schools  in 
the  cities,  were  early  presented  to  the  minds  of  some  in  charge  of 
systems  of  schools.  Various  solutions  have  been  suggested.  Often 
the  solutions  suggested  have  reminded  one  of  that  presented  by  children 
in  some  classes  in  arithmetic,  in  which  they  begin  to  work  for  the 
answer  before  all  the  conditions  have  been  considered.  One  reason 
why  the  work  in  elementary  schools  has  so  much  dead  sameness  was 
brought  out  some  years  ago  by  Superintendent  E.  E.  White,  of  Cincin- 
nati. The  extract  is  long,  but  it  presents  none  too  fully  conditions 
which  still  obtain  in  many  schools  : 

"Another  problem  in  graded-school  management  touches  the  free- 
dom of  the  teacher,  and  may  be  thus  stated :  How  to  subject  a  corps  of 
teachers  to  efficient  supervision  and  not  reduce  them  to  operatives. 

"The  adoption  of  a  definite  course  of  study,  with  subdivisions 
corresponding  to  the  number  of  classes,  all  following  each  other  in 
natural  order,  necessitates  the  mastery  of  each  of  the  successive  portions 
as  a  preparation  for  the  next  higher.  When  the  pupils  in  the  lower 
grades  or  classes  are  sufficiently  numerous  to  occupy  several  school- 
rooms under  different  teachers,  the  progress  and  attainments  of  the 
several  sections  of  each  grade  or  class  must  be  sufficiently  uniform  to 
enable  them  to  come  together  in  the  upper  grades  or  classes.  This 
necessitates  a  degree  of  uniformity  of  instruction,  and  it  is  just  here 
that  the  mechanism  of  the  graded  system  touches  its  very  life,  as  the 
experience  of  too  many  of  the  larger  cities  plainly  shows.     To  secure 


PARTS  OF  THIS  SOCIAL  INSTITUTION  1 3 

this  uniformity  of  instruction  the  course  is  mapped  out  in  minute 
details,  and  the  time  to  be  devoted  to  each  part,  the  order  in  which  the 
steps  are  to  be  taken,  and  even  the  methods  of  teaching,  are  definitely 
and  authoritatively  prescribed.  As  a  result  the  teacher  is  not  free  to 
teach  according  to  his  'conscience  and  power,'  but  his  high  office  is 
degraded  to  the  grinding  of  prescribed  grists,  in  prescribed  quantities, 
and  with  prescribed  fineness  —  to  the  turning  of  the  crank  of  a  revolv- 
ing mechanism." 

A  large  majority  of  the  teachers  in  every  city  system  are  its  own 
graduates.  It  necessitates  a  period  of  five  years  only,  after  the 
establishment  of  a  secondary  and  a  normal  school,  for  a  system  to 
begin  recruiting  its  teaching  force  from  those  who  have  never  known 
any  other  method  of  education  than  the  one  in  that  particular  system. 
The  introduction  of  teachers  from  the  village  and  country  schools  does 
not  advance  the  standard,  as  they  carry  with  them  neither  better 
scholarship  nor  greater  breadth  of  experience  than  that  in  the  corps. 
The  normal  schools  have  e.xalted  method  above  culture,  and  so  their 
graduates  have  been  under  the  sway  of  the  uniform  normal  method. 
The  spirit  of  consecration  to  the  work  has  been  a  distinguishing 
characteristic  of  their  graduates.  Had  the  ideal  of  the  work  contained 
more  of  a  "definite,  coherent  heterogeneity,"  the  normal  school  would 
have  conquered  the  elementary -school  world. 

Naturally  there  was  evolved  an  extensive  "business  of  supervision," 
because  of  the  effort  to  have  uniformity  in  teachers  and  methods ; 
because  of  the  introduction  of  subjects  which,  though  not  familiar  to 
those  trained  within  the  public  school,  the  social  life  outside  of  the 
school  made  a  necessary  part  of  the  curriculum  ;  because  of  the  desire 
of  the  strong  administrative  character  to  guide  others  rather  than  to 
be  in  the  treadmill.  In  course  of  time  the  man  at  the  top  began 
realizing  that  the  specialists  and  assistants  in  the  work  of  supervision 
were  trespassing  upon  his  prerogatives.  In  one  city  the  superintendent 
maintained  that  there  was  a  tendency  to  excessive  supervision,  and 
therefore  that  no  title  conferred  on  any  other  member  of  the  teaching 
corps  should  include  the  term  "superintendent,"  no  matter  how 
modified.  That  city  had  supervisors  of  many  subjects  and  supervising 
principals,  thus  indicating  that  the  attention  of  the  chief  was  centered 
on  the  form  side  of  the   organization  ;  that   the  fundamental  cause  of 


14  ISOLATION  IN  THE  SCHOOL 

his  difficulties  had  not  come  to  the  surface  with  sufficient  distinctness 
for  him  to  observe  it. 

Superintendent  W.  H.  Maxwell,  of  New  York  City,  when  at  the 
head  of  the  public  schools  in  Brooklyn,  concentrated  his  attention 
upon  the  influence  of  the  theory  of  supervision,  and  presented  at  some 
length  the  objections  as  they  appeared  to  him  : 

"  Principals  and  heads  of  departments  do  not  teach  classes.  They 
are  supposed  to  spend  their  whole  time  in  supervision.  There  is  one 
supervisor  who  does  not  teach  for  every  eleven  classes.  In  my  judg- 
ment the  number  of  non-teaching  supervisors  is  unnecessarily  large. 
The  excessive  development  of  supervision  has  resulted  in  several 
clearly  defined  evils  in  our  schools. 

"  First,  it  has  withdrawn  from  the  work  of  class  teaching  many  of 
our  best  teachers,  and  has  thus  lessened  the  efficiency  of  the  teaching 
force  as  a  whole. 

"Second,  it  has  created  the  feeling  that  office  work  and  making  out 
examination  questions  are  more  honorable  than  the  active  work  of 
teaching.  If  teachers  are  to  have  a  due  moral  influence  on  their  pupils, 
their  office  should  be  held  in  the  highest  honor. 

"Third,  the  struggle  for  the  prizes  that  are  held  up  before  the  eyes 
of  our  teachers  in  the  shape  of  head-of-department  places,  involving  as 
they  do,  in  most  cases,  considerably  less  work  and  considerably  better 
pay,  has  resulted  in  much  unseemly  wire-pulling  and  intrigue,  an  evil 
always  to  be  deprecated  in  the  administration  of  a  public-school 
system. 

"Fourth,  the  multiplication  of  superfluous  heads  of  departments  has 
resulted  in  division  of  responsibility  in  school  management,  in  petty 
jealousy,  and  in  much  harmful  interference  with  the  work  of  class 
teachers. 

"  Fifth,  the  unnecessary  increase  in  the  number  of  heads  of  depart- 
ments has  led  to  much  of  the  excessive  examination  of  pupils,  with  its 
attendant  evils  of  cramming  and  nervous  prostration,  that,  though  now 
much  less  than  in  former  years,  still  hurts  our  school  work. 

"Sixth,  the  cost  of  this  supervision,  not  merely  in  the  salaries  of 
heads  of  departments,  but  in  the  fitting  up  of  elaborate  offices  with 
expensive  furniture,  is  withdrawing  each  year  a  vast  amount  of  money 
that  is  sadly  needed  for  necessary  work  and  material. 


PARTS  OF  THIS  SOCIAL  INSTITUTION  15 

"  A  close  estimate  would  show  that  not  less  than  $30,000  per  annum 
is  expended  on  superfluous  heads  of  departments.  Surely  a  better  use 
might  be  found  for  this  money. 

"  From  such  facts  as  are  here  set  forth  it  appears  that  in  some 
places  general  supervision  has  been  carried  to  too  great  an  extreme, 
and  the  only  question  that  remains  to  be  settled  is  where  to  draw  the 
line." 

These  conclusions  represent  fairly  the  conditions  existing  in  large 
systems  into  which  have  been  introduced  subjects  under  the  care  of 
special  supervisors.  Without  criticising  the  superintendent  who  has 
fearlessly  set  forth  the  above  facts,  it  becomes  necessary  to  indicate  the 
way  in  which  some  of  the  objectionable  conditions  originate  in  the 
general  method  of  the  system.  The  petty  jealousy  referred  to  in  the 
fourth  section,  whether  found  in  a  system  or  in  a  single  institution,  is 
always  evidence  that  the  highest  ranking  officer  is  a  person  in  power 
rather  than  a  person  of  power.  A  chief  executive  devoid  of  petty 
jealousy,  and  refusing  to  use  it  as  a  spur  for  his  subordinates,  will  find 
the  possibilities  of  a  solidarity  among  the  members  of  the  corps,  or 
faculty,  which  does  not  exist  in  any  other  calling.  Love  of  knowledge 
and  faith  in  the  future  of  humanity  are  in  varying  degrees  peculiar  to 
the  minds  that  elect  to  teach  the  young.  If  the  superior  officer  really 
consults  with  heads  of  departments  in  open  meeting,  they  will  rise  from 
personal  considerations  to  the  question  of  relative  values,  and  will 
appreciate  the  various  claims  as  intelligently  presented.  If,  however, 
authority  of  position  dominates  the  discussions,  or  claims  are  presented 
and  passed  upon  privately,  petty  jealousy  will  sorely  perplex  the  head 
of  the  system,  or  school.  The  first,  second,  third,  and  fifth  sections 
are  different  views  of  the  same  topic  —  the  strong  tendency  at  the 
present  time  to  get  away  from  the  active  work  of  teaching  children. 
Some  of  the  causes  of  this  condition  will  be  discussed  later.  The  sixth 
section  suggests  rivalry  as  to  creature  comforts  and  display  all  along 
the  entire  line,  and  is  a  natural  outcome  of  the  withdrawal  from  the 
duties  of  direct  teaching. 

When  the  teachers  in  a  single  school  system  are  numbered  by 
thousands,  and  the  territory  occupied  covers  many  square  miles,  it 
is  not  strange  that  the  size  of  the  army  and  the  spaces  between  its 
posts  attract  more  attention  than  the  observance,  or  non-observance, 


1 6  ISOLATION  IN  THE  SCHOOL 

of  those  delicate  laws  which  make  for  soul-development  in  that  great 
social  body.  Upon  a  cursory  survey  of  the  situation  it  is  natural  to 
conclude  that  it  is  impossible  to  recognize  for  all  teachers  the  ethical 
law  of  change  for  intelligent  and  responsible  beings.  This  conclu- 
sion, though  seemingly  of  great  weight,  is  valueless.  In  the  first  place, 
the  laws  governing  the  development  of  the  soul  are  not  subject  to  con- 
ditions arising  in  a  crudely  developed  social  organization.  The  laws 
may  be  ignored,  and  the  organization  may  continue,  but  at  a  sacrifice 
beyond  estimation.  Daily  one  sees  teachers  trying  to  hold  a  class  to 
some  statement  in  the  text-book  that  is  without  content  for  the  pupils, 
or  to  a  chain  of  reasoning  that  is  but  a  form  to  them,  and  then,  after 
creating  conditions  foreign  to  those  under  which  thought  plays  freely, 
say  with  much  fervor :  "Think!  Think!  You  must  think.  Why  don't 
you  think?"  How  much  difference  is  there  between  this  method  of 
the  teachers  and  that  of  principals  and  superintendents  who  announce 
their  conclusions  in  theory  and  their  ideals  in  practice,  and  then  say  to 
the  teachers,  "Take  these  thoughts  of  mine  and  be  original  in  using 
them"  ?  With  the  stress,  the  motion,  the  change,  originated  always  in 
one  part  of  the  organization,  and  then  conveyed  to  the  other  in  man- 
datory form,  a  peculiar  reactionary  movement  has  set  in.  There  are 
a  few  spots  where  this  reactionary  movement  has  such  strength  that 
the  teachers  aim  to  restrict  the  function  of  the  school  principal  to  sit- 
ting in  the  office  ;  scolding  the  tardy,  the  indolent,  and  the  turbulent ; 
calming  the  angry  parents  ;  keeping  the  records ;  examining  written 
work;  and  filling  out  blanks  and  order  for  school  supplies.  Such  is 
the  irony  of  fate  that  what  has  been  treated  as  a  subordinate  part, 
there  claims  to  be  the  only  part  that  functions  for  the  true  end  of  the 
school.  It  is  the  only  part  that  deals  directly  and  constantly  with  the 
pupils ;  the  only  part  that  teaches  ;  or,  in  its  own  phraseology,  "  the 
only  part  that  works." 

In  cities  where  the  teaching  corps  has  become  aroused  to  the  evils 
ensuing  from  a  differentiation  that  means  isolation,  there  are  greater 
possibilities  of  a  healthful  readjustment  in  the  organization  than  in 
those  where  the  tension  is  not  definitely  recognized,  for  the  members 
are  reaching  that  point  of  view  from  which  they  see  that  it  is  not  liberty 
in  carrying  out,  it  is  freedom  and  responsibility  in  origination  also, 
that  will  make  the  whole  corps  a  force,  a  power  in  itself.    To  predicate 


PARTS  OF  THIS  SOCIAL  INSTITUTION  I? 

freedom  for  teachers  in  the  superintendent's  position,  or  for  teachers 
in  the  principal's  or  the  supervisor's  position,  is  not  sufficient  to  estab- 
lish freedom  as  an  essential ;  it  must  be  predicated  for  all  teachers. 
To  prove  that  some  cannot  teach  unless  they  possess  freedom  is  not 
enough  ;  it  must  be  predicated  that  freedom  belongs  to  that  form  of 
activity  which  characterizes  the  teacher.  The  schools  will  be  purged 
of  the  uncultured,  non-progressive  element,  the  fetters  that  bind  the 
thoughtful  and  progressive  will  be  stricken  off,  when  the  work  is  based 
on  an  intelligent  understanding  of  the  truth  that  freedom  is  an  essen- 
tial of  that  form  of  activity  known  as  the  teacher. 

To  formulate  a  theory  for  that  rational  conduct  which  shall  neces- 
sitate an  interaction  between  the  various  parts  of  the  school,  and  an 
interplay  of  thought  between  the  members  of  each  part,  is  not  a  diffi- 
cult task  ;  but  when  the  great  body  of  pupils  and  students  is  brought 
into  the  foreground,  the  practical  problem  seems  too  intricate  to  admit 
of  comprehension  under  any  theoretical  statement.  That  the  same 
laws  are  active  in  the  early  and  late  stages  of  the  development  of  per- 
sonality is  the  fundamental  upon  which  the  theory  and  practice  of 
education  must  be  constructed.  The  inherited  customs  which  trans- 
figured the  teacher,  upon  entering  the  class-room,  into  a  superior  being, 
omnipotent  and  all-wise,  though  abandoned  by  the  understanding,  are 
still  active  in  the  practical  situation.  The  conserving  influence  of 
forms  has  been  nowhere  more  marked  than  in  the  intercourse  between 
the  teacher  and  the  pupils.  The  old-time  attitude  of  subserviency,  or 
respect  as  it  was  then  termed,  which  the  New  England  child  was  wont 
to  assume  in  the  presence  of  the  dominie  is  referred  to  smilingly  in 
the  history  recitation ;  and  yet  many  years  elapsed  after  the  smile  had 
begun,  before  there  dawned  upon  the  educational  horizon  the  recogni- 
tion of  that  social  equality  which  with  its  customs  had  long  marked 
the  intercourse  of  the  professor  and  the  student,  the  teacher  and  the 
pupil,  when  outside  of  the  precincts.  This  single  instance  of  the  slow 
progress  of  the  school  in  discerning  the  spirit  of  those  refining  move- 
ments in  the  social  world  which  make  for  a  considerate,  gracious 
personality  may  help  to  the  formation  of  a  faint  conception  of  the 
retarding  influences,  which  will  delay  long  in  the  school  the  applica- 
tion of  those  laws  which  permeate  the  higher  forms  of  social  organiza- 
tion and  conventions. 


1 8  ISOLATION  IN  THE  SCHOOL 

If  mind  develops  in  proportion  to  the  degree  in  which  it  operates 
in  accord  with  its  inherent  tendency  to  investigate  and  apply  the 
results  of  investigation,  then  is  the  conception  of  education  which 
isolates  the  pupil  from  investigation,  which  should  be  the  basis  of 
application,  most  faulty.  Some  years  ago  the  Forum  published  a 
series  of  articles  entitled  "  How  I  was  Educated."  The  writers  were 
college  presidents  and  well-known  literary  men.  In  only  one  case 
was  commendatory  reference  made  to  the  school  life  below  the  acad- 
emy. Those  dreary  years  of  so-called  discipline,  destitute  of  oppor- 
tunity for  activity  in  accordance  with  the  mental  bias,  lacking  the 
stimulus  of  cooperative  work  which  makes  the  pupil  an  organic  part 
of  the  school,  had  developed  the  view  which  is  common  to  many 
who  have  enjoyed  the  higher  education,  namely,  that  the  ele- 
mentary training  has  no  intrinsic  value.  The  theory  of  elementary 
education  has  been  greatly  modified  since  the  boyhood  days  of  those 
authors.  We  still  halt,  however,  on  the  threshold  of  that  world  in 
which  each  member  would  be  a  copartner  in  its  activities. 

As  the  universities  bid  fair  to  become  the  source  from  which  the  teach- 
ing corps  will  come  largely,  the  question  of  its  method,  of  its  perpetuation 
of  the  influence  of  isolation,  of  the  degree  to  which  it  recognizes  the 
principles  underlying  that  complicated  mechanism,  civil  society,  of  its 
manner  of  presentation  and  investigation  of  subject-matter,  is  a  vital  one. 
Does  it  adopt  the  kindergarten  method,  or  the  high-school  method  ? 
Does  it  perpetuate  the  method  of  the  university  of  the  Renaissance,  or 
does  it  seek  to  objectify  the  method  which  experience  and  science  have 
demonstrated  to  be  based  on  the  modern  movement  ?  The  separation 
of  the  interests  of  the  student  from  the  life  of  the  world  outside  attracted 
attention  some  years  ago,  and  in  course  of  time  it  was  not  uncommon  to 
hear  it  stated  that  the  kindergarten  method  should  obtain  in  the  univer- 
sities. As  the  kindergartner  isolates  the  kindergarten  field  from  the 
adjoining  one,  loses  interest  in  education  which  has  passed  the  paper- 
folding  and  pasting  stage,  the  inquiry  as  to  what  the  statement  meant  is 
germane  to  the  subject  under  consideration.  It  must  have  meant  that 
the  universities,  realizing  the  flaw  in  their  great  inheritance  which  tends 
to  isolate  them  from  the  concrete  life  of  the  race,  would  adopt  the 
method  which  would  guarantee  to  all  within  their  walls  the  exercise  of 
the  inherent  right  to  the  initiative  in  thought  and  action  ;  and  this 
they  understand  to  be  the  kindergarten  method. 


PARTS  OF  THIS  SOCIAL  INSTITUTION  1 9 

The  school  does  not  stand  unsupported,  unrecognized,  in  the  com- 
nninity  or  the  state.  Upon  a  cursory  view  of  the  relation  existing 
between  these  organizations,  there  appear  for  the  school  two  aims 
which  are  in  apparent  conflict.  Its  avowed  object  is  the  training  of 
the  individuals  intrusted  to  its  care  and  direction.  The  higher,  the 
more  nearly  perfect,  that  training,  the  deeper  the  recognition  of  the 
right,  and  the  more  pronounced  the  effort  to  make  valid  the  right  of 
each  soul  to  a  development  of  the  inborn  power  of  self-determination. 
On  the  other  hand,  as  an  institution  of  society,  it  must  have  for  its 
object  the  direct  contribution  of  elements  of  strength  to  that  organiza- 
tion of  which  it  is  a  component  part.  Those  elements  must  be  the 
individuals  that  it  helps  attain  higher  degrees  of  self-determination. 
These  two  aims  are  not  in  opposition  ;  they  are  the  two  phases  of  the 
same  unity.  Neither  can  be  seen  in  its  entirety  without  a  recognition 
of  the  other. 

With  the  school  closely  bound  by  the  reason  for  its  existence,  to 
the  social  world,  the  logical  inference  of  that  relationship  would  be 
that  in  the  content  of  its  course  of  study  and  the  method  of  its  treat- 
ment, the  life  on  the  outside  would  be  typified.  Instead  of  this,  much 
of  the  course  of  study  is  effete  matter,  which  was  long  ago  rejected  as 
having  been  made  useless  by  modern  thought  and  invention  ;  and 
many  of  the  methods  of  manipulation  and  application  of  subject-mat- 
ter have  been  rejected  by  the  busy  workers  outside  as  cumbersome  and 
needlessly  wearisome. 

The  results  of  isolation  from  the  life  that  now  is  may  be  seen  in 
the  kindergarten,  which  in  its  inception  made  a  marked  advance  by 
the  introduction  of  the  social  occupations  of  everyday  life  into  the 
material  of  the  school.  But  by  the  insistence  upon  the  continuation 
in  every  country  of  those  forms  of  activity  which  were  effective  in  Ger- 
many half  a  century  ago,  the  kindergarten  stands  isolated  with  the  tra- 
dition that  has  no  culture  or  experiential  value. 

In  the  changes  in  the  course  of  study  in  the  elementary  schools  is 
given  a  striking  illustration  of  a  great  social  institution  upon  which 
depended  the  progress  of  the  people,  held  back  and  finally  criticised 
and  minimized  because  its  leaders  persisted  through  many  years  in 
treating  existing  conditions  as  fixed,  determined,  and  new  conditions  as 
hostile  to  the  true  idea  of  universal  education.     As  special  schools  of 


20  ISOLATION  IN  THE  SCHOOL 

instruction  or  technology  demonstrated  the  value  of  material  not 
included  in,  or  modes  of  procedure  foreign  to,  the  old,  the  new  was 
taken  on  as  additional,  not  vital.  The  increase  in  the  demands  upon 
teachers  in  preparation  for  teaching  many  subjects  not  related,  and  in 
examining  papers  to  make  certain  that  no  incidentals  had  escaped  the 
memories  of  their  pupils,  developed  a  high  degree  of  drudgery 
throughout.  This  subjection  to  drudgery  was  compensated  for  by  the 
introduction  of  the  terms  "faithful"  and  "conscientious"  as  applicable 
to  those  who  devoted  themselves  to  perfecting  the  dull  routine.  What 
was  the  influence  of  this  magnification  of  drudgery  upon  the  personnel 
of  the  teaching  corps  ?  This  question  brings  forward  the  subject  of 
the  remarkable  decrease  in  the  number  of  men  teachers,  and  corre- 
sponding increase  in  the  number  of  women  teachers,  in  city  elemen- 
tary schools.  Undoubtedly  many  causes  operated  to  produce  the 
change,  but  this  was  the  most  potent  in  affecting  the  personnel  of  both 
the  number  and  type. 

In  a  course  of  lectures  on  The  Development  of  Reflective  Thought, 
Professor  Mead  gives  an  historical  setting  to  this  subject  of  drudgery 
in  method  :  "In  the  ancient  world  the  workman  wrought  under  dicta- 
tion as  to  method.  Freeman  and  slave  sat  side  by  side,  using  the  tools 
as  custom  or  religion  dictated.  The  great  change  begun  in  the  medi- 
aeval period  consisted  in  man's  becoming  free  as  to  method.  As 
industrial  conditions  expanded  and  competition  made  necessary  prog- 
ress in  invention  and  advance  in  the  manner  of  production,  the  first 
requisite  of  success  was  individual  freedom  for  the  worker  in  his 
method.  From  that  assertion  of  the  individual  as  to  his  method,  the 
idea  that  he  owned  his  spirit,  himself,  gradually  developed  into  a  new 
conception  of  freedom,  a  conception  of  the  natural  rights  of  man." 
Woman  is  far  behind  man  in  this  conception  as  applied  to  woman,  and 
in  so  far  as  she  is  deficient  in  a  conception  of  the  inherent  right  of  a 
soul  to  its  right  to  individuality  in  method  of  expression  in  work  done 
under  supervision,  in  that  degree  is  she  more  easily  subordinated  to 
carrying  out  directions  involving  method.  The  Civil  War  diverted 
some  men  from  the  schools,  though  before  that  there  were  city  systems 
in  which  not  a  man  taught  in  elementary  schools  in  a  position  below 
that  of  principal ;  the  possibilities  of  financial  success  in  the  profes- 
sions of  law  and  medicine,  as  well  as  in  mercantile  life,  have  tended  to 


PARTS  OF  THIS  SOCIAL  INSTITUTION  21 

draw  men  away  from  the  elementary  schoolroom  ;  yet  these  influences 
have  not  been  more  potent  in  keeping  men  out  of  the  schools  than 
have  the  mechanism,  drudgery,  and  loss  of  individuality  which  the 
method  of  organization  and  administration  has  tended  to  make  char- 
acteristic of  the  graded  school. 

Although  natural  gifts,  the  equality  of  the  sexes  in  many  American 
homes,  a  strong  individuality,  the  pursuance  of  intellectual  work  outside 
of  the  school,  all  combined  to  keep  a  large  percentage  of  women  teachers 
and  principals  free,  yet  a  number  large  enough  to  be  conspicuous  has 
never  attained  that  conception  of  freedom  which  makes  demands  upon 
the  powers  of  origination  in  each  individual.  It  is  these  undeveloped 
teachers,  principals,  and  members  of  the  supervising  force  who  exer- 
cise the  right  of  dictation  of  method  thus  elevating  it  far  above  mate- 
rial, who  constitute  the  non-progressive  section  of  the  teaching  force 
in  the  city  school  systems.  It  is  this  non-progressive  element  which 
fills  the  places  into  which  many  desirable  young  men  and  women  refuse 
to  enter.  With  the  broader  education  of  woman  and  the  opening  of 
other  fields  to  her,  she  is  attaining  a  conception  of  freedom  as  to 
method ;  a  conception  of  the  natural  rights  of  the  soul ;  and  so  we 
find  the  young  woman  of  parts  from  the  high  school,  the  college,  or 
the  university  unwilling  to  enter  upon  the  life  of  the  elementary-school 
teacher.  The  young  men  who  look  toward  the  schools  wish  to  under- 
take some  new  line  of  work,  not  of  instruction,  but  of  investigation  ; 
to  measure  and  weigh  the  little  ones  with  machines.  The  young  women 
of  parts  wish  to  be  special  teachers — to  teach  the  teachers,  not  the 
children.  So  closely  associated  with  drudgery  is  the  ideal  of  teaching 
the  young,  that  trained  minds  and  cultivated  personalities  shrink  from 
entrance  into  the  direct  work. 

The  stress  of  conditions  has  become  so  great  both  within  and 
without  the  precincts  that  relief  must  come  soon.  The  active  cause  of 
this  problematic  condition  has  not  come  to  the  surface.  The  isola- 
tion between  the  theory  of  the  school  and  the  theory  of  life  is  so  great 
that  the  general  consensus  of  opinion  advocates  the  retention  in  the 
school  of  subject-matter  and  forms  of  work  which  it  will  not  tolerate 
in  the  commercial  world  or  home.  So  foreign  is  the  school  life  to  the 
interests  of  the  parents  that  they  rarely  enter  its  doors  on  other  than 
gala  days.     And  yet  the  large  numbers  that  throng  its  halls  on  those 


22  ISOLATION  IN  THE  SCHOOL 

days  evidence  the  tendency  in  human  nature  to  cooperate  in  making 
the  life  of  the  young  a  unity,  in  which  the  school  and  the  home  shall 
be  interactive. 

The  difference  in  origin,  subject-matter,  and  aim  of  the  course  of 
study  in  the  public  high  school  and  the  private  preparatory  school 
was  brought  out  very  distinctly  by  Dr.  William  T.  Harris,  Commis- 
sioner of  Education,  in  a  paper  on  "Secondary  School  Studies": 
"There  is  no  doubt  that  the  high-school  course  laid  out  by  the 
school  committees  is  more  rational  than  the  secondary  course  of 
the  private  preparatory  schools  prescribed  for  them  by  the  colleges. 
And  yet  the  college  course  was  the  conscious  product  of  the  highest 
educated  minds  of  the  community.  The  unconscious  evolution  by 
'  natural  selection '  in  the  minds  of  school  committees  elected  by  the 
people  was  wiser,  on  the  whole.  Individual  members  of  city  school 
boards  are  always  found  who  oppose  classical  studies  altogether.  But 
the  pressure  of  popular  demand^  always  prevails  to  secure  in  the  public 
schools  what  is  needed." 

With  the  early  introduction  of  specialization  in  student  life,  it  is 
impossible  to  place  the  college  in  its  present  relation  to  the  social 
world.  Such  new  forms  and  subjects  of  investigation  have  been 
taken  up  that  society  seems  the  subject-matter  of  the  higher  schools. 
Whether  Mr.  Bosanquet's  prediction  to  the  effect  that  the  distinguish- 
ing characteristic  of  our  times  will  be  the  "dimming  of  the  time- 
honored  belief  in  the  virtues  of  the  poor"  will  prove  true  is  a  question 
that  cannot  now  be  settled.  But  that  mere  statement  by  such  a  stu- 
dent of  social  conditions  arouses  the  mind  to  investigate  and  deter- 
mine whether  the  old  form  of  separation  that  so  long  dominated  the 
universities  is  still  effective  in  the  new  field,  or  whether  there  be  a  new 
construction  active  in  defining  society  and  the  laws  underlying  it. 

Isolation  in  any  social  organization  means  more  than  separation  in 
space.  It  means  deprivation  of  the  exercise  of  inherent  powers,  both 
originative  and  constructive  —  negation.  Cooperation  means  more 
than  spontaneity  in  following  another's  lead ;  evolution  of  potential 
powers  through  a  reaction,  initiated  by  the  self  and  terminating  in 
creative  intelligence,  is  always  involved  in  its  operation. 


II. 

SOME  RECENT  CONSTRUCTIONS  OF  PSYCHOLOGIC,  ETHIC,  AND 
LOGICAL  MODES  THAT  MUST  BE  RECOGNIZED  IN  A  RATIONAL 
CONDUCT  OF  THE   SCHOOL. 

The  psychologist  of  today  is  laying  stress  on  modes  of  action  that 
received  little  attention  from  the  student  of  mental  science  in  the  past. 
That  almost  total  neglect  was  somewhat  remarkable,  for  the  reason  that 
the  non-scientific  of  high  and  low  grade  of  culture  recognized  them 
and  held  definite  opinions  regarding  their  signification.  The  valne  of 
those  opinions  is  enhanced  in  our  estimation  by  the  fact  that  the  old 
terminology  is  in  the  main  retained  by  the  scientific  investigators,  who 
are  gathering  and  organizing  data  as  to  the  origin  and  function  of  imi- 
tation, habit,  and  attention  ;  and,  in  so  doing,  are  not  only  modifying 
and  enlarging  popular  theory  as  to  these  modes  of  action,  but  are  also 
constructing  scientific  theory. 

One  of  the  earliest  and  fullest  studies  of  imitation  was  made  by 
Aristotle  in  The  Poetic.  In  that  work  he  bases  his  theory  of  the  drama 
and  kindred  arts  on  imitation.  The  school  of  modern  artists  and  lit- 
terateurs which  regards  the  function  of  art  to  be  the  exact  reproduction 
of  the  model  is  small,  though  the  number  of  persons  who  accept  the 
two  causes  of  imitation  as  given  by  Aristotle  is  very  large.  Even 
when  the  psychologist  began  to  look  upon  this  activity  as  one  which 
fell  within  his  province,  he  accepted  the  delight  of  man  in  imitation, 
and  his  enjoyment  of  successful  imitations,  as  sufficient  explanation  of 
its  origin  or  cause. 

Certain  modifications  were  noted  as  affecting  the  degree  to  which 
the  attempt  to  copy  is  carried  ;  as,  for  example,  an  energetic  child  is 
said  to  be  more  imitative  than  is  a  lethargic  child,  though  the  question 
as  to  the  ratio  of  imitated  acts  to  the  whole  activity  in  the  different 
classes  was  neither  raised  nor  answered.  The  influence  of  environment 
on  these  two  types  of  children  was  not  considered,  though  it  would 
have  furnished  suggestive  material  as  to  the  causes  of  the  types. 
Another  factor  which  was  taken  into  account  was  the  emotional  tem- 
perament which  had  very  early  attracted  the  attention  of  the  student  of 

23 


24  ISOLATION  IN  THE  SCHOOL 

abnormal  tendencies.  The  tendency  of  the  less  independent  and  the 
non-assertive  child  to  copy  unconsciously  the  absurdities  of  others,  and 
the  general  use  of  mimicry  as  a  means  of  ridicule,  have  been  the  cause 
of  the  unexpressed  opinion  that  the  imitator  takes  the  objectionable 
for  a  model.  Aristotle  treats  this  from  a  somewhat  different  standpoint. 
He  says,  since  imitators  imitate,  then  it  necessarily  follows  that  they 
imitate  those  who  are  better  than,  or  worse  than,  or  like  unto,  them- 
selves, and  urges  the  presentation  of  the  best  possible  as  model  for 
the  imitator.  Had  he  been  writing  in  the  present  analytic  age,  he 
would  have  suggested  the  probability  that  the  copy  taken  indicated  the 
moral  motif  of  the  imitator. 

The  most  important  outcome  of  these  various  popular  studies  was 
the  setting  up  of  an  antithesis  with  originality  and  invention  on  one 
side,  and  imitation  on  the  other.  This  antithesis  has  long  been,  and 
still  is,  the  basis  of  popular  educational  theory,  which  would  devote  the 
years  of  elementary  training  of  children  to  the  making  of  careful  repro- 
ductions of  the  copy  set  by  the  teacher,  and  then  would  advance  to 
higher  forms  of  intellectual  work,  forms  requiring  power  in  individual 
origination  and  invention,  those  who  had  sufficient  strength  to  rise 
above  the  influence  of  the  practice  of  the  theory  under  which  they  had 
been  trained. 

Very  different  is  the  method  of  approach  to  this  subject  made  by 
Professor  Baldwin  within  the  last  five  years.  Making  use  of  investiga- 
tions of  the  biologists  he  says:  "The  effect  of  imitation  is  to  make  the 
brain  a  '  repeating  organ,'  /.  e.,  to  secure  the  repetitions  which  on  all 
biological  theories  the  organ  must  have  if  it  is  to  develop  ;"  and  from 
this  he  brings  out  the  point  that  "a  child  under  limitations  of  heredity 
makes  up  its  personality  by  imitation,  out  of  the  copy  set  in  the  actions, 
tempers,  emotions,  of  the  persons  who  build  around  him  the  social 
inclosure  of  his  childhood."  Here  is  met  the  question  about  the 
influence  of  environment  in  imitation  which  was  so  completely  ignored 
by  the  earlier  investigators. 

Satisfactory  as  is  the  recognition  of  this  factor,  one  cannot  help 
wishing  that  Professor  Baldwin  had  gone  deeper  into  the  analysis,  so 
that  the  spontaneous  activity  at  the  beginning  of  the  process  would 
have  been  brought  out  more  clearly.  His  treatment  of  stimulation  is 
such  that,  inferentially,  imitation  begins  with  a  reaction  on  the  stimulus 


RECENT  PSYCHOLOGIC,  ETHIC,  AND  LOGICAL  MODES  25 

in  the  environment,  rather  than  in  the  original  impulse  which  selects 
and  then  reacts.  In  his  summary  of  ^he  results  of  neurological 
research  he  brings  out  very  distinctly  this  point  of  origin  :  "  Wherever 
there  is  life  there  is  spontaneous  selection  of  stimuli  and  the  motor 
adaptations  necessary  to  it."  This  is  in  the  section  on  Organic  Imitation; 
but  when  he  writes  about  "How  to  Observe  Children's  Imitations"  the 
uncertainty  of  origin  again  becomes  evident.  He  falls  back  into  that 
mode  of  speech  which,  like  Spencer's,  makes  the  environment  an  all- 
powerful  influence,  and  seems  to  forget  the  persisting  traits  in  the  indi- 
vidual which  are  the  basis  of  native  reactions.  He  uses  Leibnitz's 
phrase  about  the  child's  reflecting  the  whole  system  of  influences,  com- 
ing to  stir  its  sensibility,  and  then  emphasizes  it  by  adding:  "Just  in  so 
far  as  his  sensibilities  are  stirred  he  imitates." 

All  of  this,  however,  does  not  minimize  the  value  of  his  study  in 
demonstrating  the  truth  that  there  is  no  antithesis  between  originality 
and  imitation,  but  that  invention  is  an  outgrowth  of  imitation.  Three 
elements  are  involved  in  the  development  of  the  original  out  of  the 
imitative  :  "the  new  ways"  in  which  one  imitates;  "the  combinations 
he  hits  upon"  when  imitating  freely;  "  the  growth  of  self"  through 
the  consciousness  of  power  discovered  in  varying  the  copy.  To  come 
more  definitely  at  the  gain  accruing  from  this  recent  analysis  of  imita- 
tion and  its  development  into  invention,  there  must  be  borne  in  mind 
the  general  attitude  toward  this  mode  of  action.  The  question  of  imi- 
tation was  viewed  largely  as  one  of  temperament  and  will,  hence,  if  a 
good  copy  was  set,  then  the  more  closely  it  was  imitated,  the  nearer 
the  result  approached  the  desired  aim,  and  the  better  the  worker  as  an 
imitator.  The  independent,  self-assertive  person  did  not  imitate  any- 
thing or  anybody.  This  division  into  imitators  and  non-imitators 
ignored  the  elements  involved  in  the  evolution  of  originality  and 
inventive  power.  The  independent  individual,  it  was  assumed,  did 
nothing  which  he  saw  others  doing.  Hence  it  was  as  necessary  for  him 
to  deny  imitation  as  it  was  to  claim  invention.  The  transfiguring 
power  of  the  self  and  the  dependence  of  the  individual  upon  others 
were  lost  to  view.  The  modern  psychologist  has  thus  shown  the 
growth  of  mental  power,  even  in  so  primary  an  activity  as  imitation, 
to  depend  upon  the  modification  which  the  mind  of  the  imitator 
originates. 


26  ISOLATION  IN  THE  SCHOOL 

Instead  of  striving  to  develop  mind  in  a  field  isolated  from  that 
which  would  furnish  opportunity  for  the  native  mental  powers  to  exer- 
cise their  natural  sphere,  the  latest  formulation  of  thought  would 
make  it  the  right  of  the  opening  mind  to  an  environment  which  not 
only  affords  the  better  standards  for  imitation,  but  also  furnishes 
opportunity  for  free  play  to  that  tendency  to  give  the  individual  touch 
to  the  product.  This  will  work  disaster  to  the  idea  that  a  new  method 
must  be  devised  for  doing  all  things  when  the  transition  is  made  from 
the  lower  school  to  the  higher,  or  to  the  world  outside.  Greater  than 
that,  it  will  recognize  the  individuality  which  is  embodied  in  the 
developing  personality;  it  will  recognize  that  something  which,  if  it 
have  an  opportunity  to  expand,  makes  each  soul  conscious  of  its 
kinship  with  the  eternal. 

With  the  appearance  of  Dr.  William  B.  Carpenter's  work  on  Mental 
Physiology,  in  1874,  there  was  given  a  setting  to  the  relation  between  mind 
and  body  which,  he  hoped,  would  stimulate  some  other  investigator  to 
develop  "  that  science  of  human  nature  which  has  yet  to  be  built-up  on  a 
much  broader  basis  than  any  philosopher  has  hitherto  taken  as  his 
foundation."  In  a  most  valuable  chapter  on  habit  he  opened  the  sub- 
ject by  calling  attention  to  the  well-known  laws  underlying  the  con- 
struction and  rejuvenation  of  the  vegetable  and  animal  organism  in  the 
process  of  nutrition.  Probably  no  reader  of  that  succinct  statement 
found  in  it  anything  that  was  before  unknown  ;  and  yet,  after  the  appli- 
cation of  those  familiar  facts  and  principles  to  the  activity  of  the 
nervous  system  of  man,  a  new  point  of  view  was  held  from  which  to 
consider  habit  in  the  mental  life,  and  particularly  in  the  formative 
period  of  childhood  and  youth. 

Within  the  last  quarter  of  a  century  the  subject  has  been  discussed 
by  English,  French,  German,  and  American  writers,  from  the  same 
standpoint  as  that  taken  by  Dr.  Carpenter.  From  the  position  that 
repetition  makes  modes  of  action  easier,  and  often  automatic,  there 
was  an  advance  step  made  when  the  scientist  raised  the  question  :  Whv 
does  the  nerve-current  traverse  a  certain  path  the  first  time  ?  The 
answers  first  offered  were  not  satisfactory.  The  failure  lay  in  the 
attempt  to  base  the  explanation  on  a  conception  that  limited  habit  to 
a  purely  physiological  basis.  Mr.  James,  raising  and  meeting  the  ques- 
tion along  this  line,  concludes  his  answer  with  the  following  comment 


RECENT  PSYCHOLOGIC,  ETHIC,  AND  LOGICAL  MODES  27 

on  it :  "All  this  is  vague  to  the  last  degree,  and  amounts  to  little 
more  than  saying  that  a  new  path  may  be  formed  by  the  sort  of  chances 
that  in  nervous  material  are  likely  to  occur.  But  vague  as  it  is,  it  is 
really  the  last  word  of  our  wisdom  in  the  matter,"  The  question 
raised  did  not  interest  his  readers  to  any  great  extent.  The  chapter 
contained  enough  that  was  definite.  Like  Dr.  Carpenter,  after  present- 
ing the  subject  from  the  physiological  side,  he  uses  all  the  force  of  that 
presentation  to  arouse  his  readers  to  the  ethical  nature  of  the  habitual 
mode  of  activity.  The  necessity  for  establishing  automatism  in  con- 
trol of  the  petty  details  and  the  daily  duties  of  life  is  painted  in  vivid 
colors.  The  chapters  written  by  these  two  brilliant  men  are  decided 
contributions  to  psychological  and  ethical  theory  ;  and  yet,  in  neither 
does  the  writer  rise  to  that  command  of  the  subject  which  shows  that  the 
initiative  and  the  habit,  the  cause  that  makes  the  nerve-current  traverse 
a  certain  path  the  first  time  and  the  repetition  of  the  act,  are  the  two 
aspects  of  a  unity.  The  common  failure  of  long-continued  dictated 
repetition  to  set  up  a  habit  gave  no  light  in  regard  to  this  process. 
Dr.  Carpenter  speaks  of  "  the  strength  of  the  organic  tendency 
which  produces  the  persistence,"  just  missing  the  explanation  of  the 
point  involved,  the  origin  of  the  organic  tendency.  The  investiga- 
tions of  biology  have  been  pushed  a  step  beyond  the  advance  position 
attained  by  Dr.  Carpenter  when  he  concluded  that  "there  was  strong 
reason  for  attributing  inherent  motility  to  some  kinds  of  muscular 
tissue,"  to  the  position  which  makes  that  inherent  motility,  that  tend- 
ency to  movement  for  the  maintenance  of  life,  a  characteristic  of  life. 
To  the  non-scientiiic  mind  this  statement  of  that  which  in  the  light  of 
today  is  involved  in  the  conclusions  of  the  scientist  of  yesterday  seems 
a  mere  play  upon  words.  It  is,  however,  in  restatements  of  truths  with 
a  transfer  of  emphasis  that  new  meanings  are  given  the  old,  and  the 
doors  to  the  worlds  of  nature  and  of  thought  are  opened  wider,  giving 
to  humanity  a  broader  view  of  the  structure  and  mechanism  of  the 
universe. 

Following  some  principles  of  current  biology  and  psychology  to 
their  logical  outcome,  Mr.  Baldwin  in  his  work  on  Mental  Develop- 
ment has  taken  up  the  question,  "What  made  the  current  traverse  the 
path  the  first  time?"  and  has  worked  out  a  very  definite,  not  vague, 
answer  :    "  Habit  expresses  the  tendency  of  the  organism  to  secure  and 


2  8  ISOLATION  IN  THE  SCHOOL 

to  retain  its  vital  stimulations.  On  this  view,  a  habit  begins  before  the 
movement  which  illustrates  it  actually  takes  place ;  the  organism  is 
endowed  with  a  habit,  if  that  be  not  considered  a  contradiction.  Its 
life-process  involves  just  the  tendency  which  habit  goes  on  to  confirm 
and  to  extend.  The  process  of  habit,  having  as  its  end  the  main- 
tenance of  a  condition  of  stimulation,  is  set  in  train  by  the  initial 
stimulus.  And  the  discharge  of  it  in  the  path  which  again  'hits'  the 
stimulus  is  the  function  of  this  stimulus  rather  than  another,  and 
reflects,  exactly  and  alone,  the  fact  that  then  and  there  is  a  stimulus 
whose  influence  upon  the  vital  processes  is  good."  Here  we  have  a 
rational  explanation  of  the  conditions  underlying  the  formation  of 
habits.  Not  by  chance,  not  by  the  imposition  of  an  external  com- 
mand, does  the  first  movement  along  the  nerve  structure  take  this  or 
that  direction.  Here  we  find  an  explanation  of  the  frequent  failure  to 
make  a  mode  of  action  habitual  by  repetition. 

The  same  criticism  which  was  made  on  Professor  Baldwin's  lapse 
into  uncertainly  regarding  the  beginnings  of  imitation  applies  to  his 
latest  study  of  habit,  in  Social  and  Ethical  Interpretations  in  Mental  Devel- 
opment, especially  when  he  enters  upon  the  discussion  of  the  moral 
sense.  If  "we  do  right  by  habitually  imitating  a  larger  self  whose 
injunctions  run  counter  to  the  tendencies  of  our  partial  selves,"  then  is 
there  a  begging  of  the  analogy  between  the  development  of  the  organ- 
ism as  taught  by  biology,  and  the  development  of  mind  as  taught  by 
psychology.  It  is  hoped  that  upon  making  his  next  essay  into  the 
fields  to  which  he  has  let  down  the  bars.  Professor  Baldwin  will  show 
that  he  has  thought  the  conclusions  of  his  general  statements  into,  and 
through,  the  particular  activities  to  which  they  apply  in  psychology 
and  ethics.  And  yet,  in  the  main,  he  establishes  the  analogy  from 
which  we  deduce  the  principle  :  whether  it  be  largely  physical  or  largely 
mental,  the  same  law  holds  in  regard  to  an  individual  mode  of  action 
becoming  habitual ;  within  the  being — the  individual  —  must  originate 
the  tendency  to  acquire  control,  to  make  automatic  the  easy  carriage, 
the  clean-cut  enunciation,  the  gentle  manner,  the  careful  observation, 
the  accurate  statement,  the  magnanimous  judgment.  The  habit  uncon- 
sciously acquired  is  often  to  its  possessor  (if  he  would  know  himself), 
or  to  the  intelligent  observer,  an  indication  —  sometimes  a  revelation  — 
of  hitherto  undreamed-of  potentiality ;  its  antagonist,  the  habit  which 


RECENT  PSYCHOLOGIC,  ETHIC,  AND  LOGICAL  MODES  29 

will  not  form,  is  equally  valuable  as  a  revealer  of  conditions.  The 
recognition  of  the  origin  of  habit  in  the  tendency  leads  to  the  construc- 
tion of  a  new  conception  of  the  method  of  change  of  habit.  The  idea 
that  objectionable  habits  are  to  be  "broken  "  develops  into  a  new  one, 
that  the  individual  trait  which  persists,  together  with  control  gained 
by  exercise  of  the  old  habit,  must  be  reorganized  for  the  attainment  of 
a  new  end,  set  by  the  individual.  This  new  conception,  instead  of 
presenting  destruction  as  the  outcome  of  reformation,  strengthens  the 
self-respect  by  the  requirement  to  search  for  the  elements  of  power, 
and  then  utilize  them  in  the  new  mode.  The  dull  routine  of  trying  to 
form  habits  by  wearisome  repetitions,  the  discouraging  process  of 
trying  to  overcome  the  enemy,  the  old  habit,  only  to  find  it  upon  the 
first  lapse  of  vigilance  reinstated  in  full  sway,  must  give  way  to  a  higher 
type  of  activity.  The  individual  must,  under  the  stimulus  of  interest 
in  a  consciously  originated  and  defined  end,  utilize  inherited  and 
acquired  tendencies  and  powers  in  organizing  and  reorganizing  for  its 
attainment.  The  satisfaction  that  comes  with  exercise  along  lines  that 
are  peculiar  to  the  individual  will  be  secured  by  everyone,  in  greater 
or  less  degree,  through  automatic  action.  But  whether  this  shall 
reduce  the  life  to  a  narrow  mechanism  that  stifles  and  dwarfs,  or  shall 
expand  the  life  into  a  developing  process  that  inspires  and  enlarges, 
depends  upon  the  origination  and  construction  of  the  end  or  aim  by 
which  the  tendency  is  called  into  action. 

A  third  subject  on  which  there  has  been  excellent  work  done  in 
modern  psychology  is  attention.  Parents  and  pedagogues  have  from 
time  immemorial  called  upon  the  child  with  the  wandering  gaze  or 
listless  attitude  to  pay  attention.  The  physical  signs  have  been  so 
easily  interpreted  that  from  those  alone  the  inattentive  mind  was 
detected.  And  yet  the  adult  has  often  been  amazed  to  find,  at  a  later 
period,  that  the  amount  retained  by  the  seemingly  attentive  was  little 
in  comparison  with  that  controlled  by  the  inattentive.  The  English 
school  of  psychology,  from  Locke  down  to  Carpenter,  did  not  think 
the  subject  a  profitable  one  for  investigation.  The  only  object  in 
referring  to  their  failure  to  recognize  this  activity  is  to  emphasize  the 
prevalence  and  influence  of  their  attitude  at  this  late  day. 

If  the  general  consensus  of  opinion  as  to  the  relation  between 
mind-wandering  and  attention  were  taken,  it  would  be  found  to  embody 


30  ISOLATION  IN  THE  SCHOOL 

the  idea  that  in  trying  to  follow  oral  discourse  the  mind  of  the  listener 
can  often  be  kept  from  wandering  by  the  mechanical  repetition  of  the 
words  of  the  speaker.  Here,  in  a  nutshell,  is  the  perversity  of  the 
theory  which  often  makes  dullards  of  the  young.  What  value  is  it  to 
keep  the  mind  from  wandering  if  it  is  tethered  to  words,  not  intelli- 
gence ?  The  failure  to  distinguish  sharply  between  the  discriminating 
alertness  of  attention  and  the  undistinguishing  passivity  of  the  mere 
repetition  of  words  is  due,  probably,  to  the  non-recognition  of  the 
activity  of  feeling,  as  well  as  of  intellect,  in  the  process  of  attention. 
This  over-emphasizing  the  function  of  the  intellect,  and  ignoring  that 
of  feeling,  must  have  taken  its  rise  in  the  philosophy  of  the  Stoics.  The 
characteristics  of  the  ideal  of  attention  it  involves  are  isolation  of  the 
individual  attending  from  the  content  of  that  to  which  he  attends. 
Placing  the  origin  of  the  generally  accepted  theory  of  attention  in  that 
system  of  thought,  we  have  an  easy  explanation  of  that  attitude  toward 
the  process  of  attention  which  omits  the  feeling  aspect.  In  the  reaction 
against  this  generally  accepted  idea  of  attention  there  have  devel- 
oped different  modes  of  viewing  the  activity.  Among  the  different 
theories  advanced  is  one  which  bases  attention  on  interest.  The  keen 
observer  of  people  uses  various  expressions  in  which  attention  and 
interest  are  associated.  "They  will  not  give  attention  because  they 
have  lost  interest;"  "Because  he  cannot  get  them  interested  they 
will  not  attend;"  "It  is  evident  that  they  are  losing  interest,  for 
they  are  giving  attention  by  fits  and  starts."  These  expressions 
raise  the  question  whether  interest  is  the  base  upon  which  attention 
rests,  or  is  the  emotional,  or  feeling,  aspect  of  attention.  Whether 
it  be  base  or  aspect,  it  certainly  is  not  merely  a  forerunner  whose 
activity  ceases  when  that  of  attention  begins.  In  a  recent  article  on 
"  Reflective  Attention,"  Dr.  Dewey  makes  intrinsic  interest  the  basis 
of  spontaneous  attention,  and  a  query  or  doubt  the  basis  of  voluntary 
or  reflective  attention.  It  is  a  new  presentation  of  the  origin  and 
process  of  this  activity.  The  part  of  his  article  which  specially  con- 
cerns the  study  herein  made  is  in  regard  to  the  origination  of  voluntary 
attention.  He  says:  "The  problem  is  one's  own;  hence  also  the 
impetus,  the  stimulus  to  attention,  is  one's  own ;  hence  also  the 
training  secured  is  one's  own — ^it  is  discipline,  or  gain  in  power  of 
control."     Here  again   is  a  process  familiar  to  unscientific  thought, 


RECENT  PSYCHOLOGIC,  ETinC,  AND  LOGICAL  MODES  31 

Stated  on  its  functional  side  by  science;  and  that  function  is  self- 
development,  growth,  not  through  the  effort  to  achieve  an  end  which 
was  dictated  by  another,  but  through  the  effort  to  secure  an  end  which 
the  self  has  determined. 

In  these  three  modes  of  activity  which  have  been  briefly  reviewed, 
it  is  evident  that  in  the  most  modern  point  of  view  regarding  the 
development  of  the  individual  the  first  essential  is  the  recognition  of 
teleological  aspect  in  every  form  of  mental  activity.  In  this  recogni- 
tion there  is  necessitated  that  play  of  the  mental  powers  which  is 
according  to  nature,  and  which,  therefore,  makes  the  individual  attain 
to  the  highest  degree  of  strength  possible  for  him.  This  free  play  of 
thought  cannot  go  on  if  the  individual  is  isolated  from  the  considera- 
tion of  the  ends  for  which  his  life  is  spent.  A  cooperation  in  deter- 
mining the  ends  for  which  life  is  spent  is  necessary  to  the  evolution  of 
mind. 

Mr.  James  has  expressed  the  theory  of  teleological  functioning  so 
well  that  I  quote  his  remarks  at  some  length  : 

"The  reflex  theory  of  the  mind  commits  physiologists  to  regarding 
the  mind  as  an  essentially  teleological  mechanism.  I  mean  by  this 
that  the  conceiving  or  theorizing  faculty^ the  mind's  middle  depart- 
ment—  functions  exclusively  for  the  sake  of  ends  that  do  not  exist  at 
all  in  the  world  of  impressions  we  receive  by  way  of  our  senses,  but 
are  set  by  our  emotional  and  practical  subjectivity  altogether.  It  is  a 
transformation  of  the  world  of  our  impressions  into  a  totally  different 
world,  the  world  of  our  conception  ;  and  the  transformation  is  effected 
in  the  interests  of  our  volitional  nature,  and  for  no  other  purpose  what- 
ever  We  easily  delude  ourselves  about  this  middle  stage.  Some- 
times we  think  it  final,  and  sometimes  we  fail  to  see  amid  the  monstrous 
diversity  in  the  length  and  complication  of  the  cogitations  which  may 
fill  it  that  it  can  have  but  one  essential  function  —  the  function  of  defin- 
ing the  direction  which  our  activity,  immediate  or  remote,  shall  take." 

"'Receiving  impressions'  to  all  eternity  would  never  result  in 
developing  what  we  call  'mind.'  The  active  response,  the  forth- 
putting  of  the  mind's  own  powers  according  to  its  own  constitution, 
is  the  prominent  and  the  really  impressive  thing  for  the  psychologist." 

It  is  a  commonplace  that  on  each  new  step  in  the  progress  of 
humanity  are  found  certain  words  which  are  ever  afterward  identified 


32  ISOLATION  IN  THE  SCHOOL 

with  the  particular  period  in  which  they  were  brought  forward.  One 
of  those  characteristic  terms  in  psychologic  and  ethic  theory  of  today 
is  activity.  For  a  time  we  had  the  compound  "  self-activity,"  but  the 
"self"  has  gradually  been  eliminated  from  this  distinguishing  word, 
which  is  used  with  varying  degrees  of  looseness  and  definiteness.  Mr. 
Bradley,  in  a  chapter  devoted  to  activity,  lays  stress  upon  the  time- 
sequence  involved,  which,  he  very  justly  says,  is  necessary  if  the  use  of 
the  term  retains  sense.  "The  element  in  its  meaning,  which  comes  to 
light  at  once,  is  succession  and  change.  In  all  activity  something 
clearly  becomes  something  else."  "Activity  seems  to  be  self-caused 
change.  A  transition  that  begins  with  and  comes  out  of  the  thing 
itself  is  the  process  where  we  feel  that  it  is  activity.  But  the  thing  can- 
not act  unless  the  act  is  occasioned;  then  the  transition,  so  far,  is 
imported  into  it  by  something  outside.  If  we  look  at  the  process  as 
the  coming  out  of  its  nature,  the  process  is  its  activity."  Although 
Mr.  Bradley  does  not  seem  satisfied  with  this  analysis  of  the  term,  yet 
it  presents  fairly  or  suggests  the  answer  to  the  question  :  What  is  the 
nature  of  activity,  a  process  which  transfigures  a  cause  into  something 
different  ? 

So  easily  is  a  term  formulated  and  its  essential  principle  so  soon 
obscured  that  it  seemed  best  at  this  point  to  call  attention  directly  to 
this  distinguishing  idea  of  the  present  day,  in  order  that  the  recogni- 
tion of  its  vital  element  be  assured.  Dealing,  as  psychology  does,  with 
the  mechanism  by  which  we  come  to  know  the  world  in  its  material 
and  spiritual  aspects,  it  forms  the  basis  of  our  knowledge  of  mind  in 
its  development.  Its  problems,  however,  are  less  difficult  than  those 
of  ethics;  the  conditions  of  the  first  lie  in  the  individual  only,  while 
those  of  the  second  underlie  the  relations  of  individuals.  The  adult, 
sustaining  the  relation  of  teacher  or  parent,  in  using  his  knowledge  of 
psychology  as  an  instrument  in  the  process  of  the  education  of  others 
occupies  an  intermediate  ground  which  might  be  called  the  ethico- 
psychological.  Some  questions  rising  in  that  territory  have  been  con- 
sidered generally  in  the  discussion  of  the  term  "activity."  Further 
study  will  be  made  in  the  domain  of  social  ethics  only. 

The  tenor  of  all  that  is  here  offered  will  be  in  accord  with  Thomas 
Hill  Green's  Prolegomena  to  Ethics,  a  book  from  which  I  have  received 
much  stimulus  for  thought  on  this  subject.     No  attempt  will  be  made 


RECENT  PSYCHOLOGIC,  ETHIC,  AND  LOGICAL  MODES  33 

to  enter  into  a  discussion  of  all  questions  that  may  be  subsumed  under 
this  subject.  Only  three  will  be  considered  :  the  nature  of  a  free 
cause  \n  the  intellectual  and  moral  life;  the  motives  of  change;  the 
relations  between  individuals  engaged  in  setting  and  realizing  a  com- 
mon aim. 

One  of  the  benefits  which  must  ensue  ere  long  from  the  introduc- 
tion of  scientific  method  into  the  way  in  which  man  approaches  the 
problems,  not  only  in  the  physical  world,  but  in  the  moral  also,  will 
be  a  removal  of  the  chains  which  more  or  less  closely  bind  him  to  a 
belief  in  fixed  mechanism.  As  generally  understood,  the  relation  of 
cause  and  effect,  as  applied  to  man,  means  that  a  uniformly  antecedent 
event  (or  cause)  determines  a  uniformly  consequent  event  (or  effect). 
This  makes  him  a  mere  link  in  a  chain.  Analysis  shows  that  the  man- 
ner of  the  origin  of  the  cause  determines  the  vitality  of  the  movement. 
If  "  the  cause  or  motive  is  constituted  by  an  act  of  self-consciousness 
which  is  not  a  natural  event,  an  act  in  which  the  agent  presents  to  him- 
self a  certain  idea  of  himself  —  of  himself  doing  or  himself  enjoying  — 
as  an  idea  of  which  the  realization  forms  for  the  time  his  good,"  the  whole 
movement  will  be  removed  from  the  sphere  of  a  fixed  and  narrow  mechan- 
ism, the  individual  will  not  be  a  link  in  a  chain  or  a  cog  in  a  wheel. 

Though  in  the  main  we  indorse  Shakespeare's  theory  of  the  con- 
tinuity of  cause  and  effect  in  humanity  — 

"  There  is  a  history  in  all  men's  lives 
Figuring  the  nature  of  the  times  deceased  : 
The  which  observed,  a  man  may  prophesy 
With  a  near  aim,  of  the  main  chance  of  things 
As  yet  not  come  to  life,  which  in  their  seeds 
And  weak  beginnings  lie  intreasurdd. 
Such  things  become  the  hatch  and  brood  of  time." 

yet  there  is  one  possibility  unexpressed  by  the  poet,  and  that  is 
the  activity  of  the  human  being  as  a  free  cause.  A  new  but  potent 
"occasion"  may  be  of  so  powerful  a  nature  as  to  rouse  in  the  result- 
ing activity  elements  which  were  latent,  and  the  actor  may  give  to 
himself,  and  hence  to  his  acts,  a  different  and  undreamed-of  character. 
Now,  this  new  trait  in  things  not  yet  come  to  life  comes,  not  from  the 
man's  or  woman's  cutting  aloof  from  the  "  determined  world  as  a 
whole,"  but  "from  his  acting  absolutely  from  himself  in  the  action 
through  which  that  world  is."     By  and  through  the  man's  action  as  a 


34  ISOLATION  IN  THE  SCHOOL 

"free  cause"  the  character  of  those  things  which  in  their  seeds  lie 
intreasured,  as  well  as  the  character  of  the  man,  is  given  a  new  deter- 
mination. Not  to  affect  the  acts  and  the  self  is  to  be  a  mechanical 
cause.  It  seems  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  in  the  case  where  the 
man  acts  as  a  free  cause  not  only  is  there  a  different  quality  of  hatch 
and  brood  of  time,  but  man  himself  is  a  different  man.  The  dull 
routine  that  becomes  a  part  of  life  when  the  human  being  is  a  cause 
not  distingnished  from  the  determined  world  in  which  it  acts,  simply 
stifles  the  potentialities  which  lie  dormant  in  that  soul.  Instead  of 
being  an  organic  part  of  the  community  life  to  which  the  man  should 
belong,  he  is  isolated  as  a  part  of  its  mechanism. 

The  motives  underlying  a  change  are  closely  interwoven  with  those 
of  free  cause  and  the  setting  of  the  common  aim,  but  they  may  be 
profitably  analyzed.  There  are  three  widely  different  motives,  lead- 
ing to  a  change  in  the  mode  of  thought  and  its  expression.  Either 
one  of  these,  acting  alone,  may  apparently  induce  the  same  result  that 
would  follow  from  one  of  the  others.  The  lowest  of  the  three  is  that 
fear  which  denies  to  a  soul  the  right  to  its  own  ideals,  and  makes  the 
self  set  up  the  ideals  of  another  for  realization.  A  second  motive 
leading  some  to  change  their  theory  and  practice,  is  the  love  of 
novelty.  The  soul,  having  no  ideals  of  its  own  to  realize,  lacks  that 
guiding  star  which  would  draw  it  ever  upward,  and  so  looks  now  here, 
now  there  for  a  new  object  to  pursue.  It  is  not  uncommon  for  lovers 
of  novelty  to  attempt  the  most  radical  changes  upon  a  few  hours* 
notice.  The  third  and  highest  motive  inducing  change  in  thought 
and  action  is  that  based  on  a  conviction  that  the  present  is  barren, 
and  a  better  is  attainable.  The  germs  of  progress  are  sown  in  this 
soil.  The  conception  of  a  better  may  at  first  be  dim,  but  it  will 
become  more  and  more  clearly  defined  as  the  soul  searches  for  that 
which  it  desires. 

Whether  the  result  of  a  change  shall  be  a  copy,  lacking  permanent 
individual,  vitalizing  force ;  or  shall  be  an  erratic  offshoot,  leading  to 
nothing  ;  or  shall  be  an  outward  expression  of  a  persistent,  individual, 
developing  ideal,  depends  upon  the  motivation  of  the  change  ;  whether 
it  be  fear  or  subserviency,  the  love  of  novelty,  or  conviction  and  desire. 
The  relapse  from  a  seemingly  high  plane  of  living  and  thinking  to  a 
former  low  plane  is  the  reaction  from  a  change  that  was  determined  by 


RECENT  PSYCHOLOGIC,  ETHIC,  AND  LOGICAL  MODES  35 

one  of  the  lower  forms  of  motives.  The  individual  may  inhibit  tend- 
encies and  habits  for  a  long  time,  but  mere  inhibition  neither  points 
the  way  nor  leads  to  higher  realms.  It  is  unnecessary  to  appeal  fur- 
ther to  experience  as  regards  the  influence  of  the  motive  for  change 
on  the  character  of  the  result,  and  on  the  character  of  the  individual. 

The  next  topic  —  the  relation  of  individuals  in  setting  a  common 
aim  —  is  a  continuation  of  the  question  of  cause  and  free  cause.  Char- 
acter and  conduct  stand  to  each  other  in  the  relation  of  the  theory 
and  practice  of  life.  If  they  are  divorced,  that  is,  if  the  idea  which 
is  the  motive  of  conduct  is  not  a  construction  of  the  reason  and  feel- 
ings, is  instead  a  photographic  reproduction  of  another's  construc- 
tion, the  conduct  which  eventuates  is  not  the  second  part  of  a  unity, 
the  expression  of  the  originating  and  constructing  activity  of  the  soul. 
The  reproduction  will  serve  as  an  occasion  for  action,  but  not  for  that 
action,  that  conduct,  which  is  the  objectification  of  "man's  conscious- 
ness of  himself  as  an  end  to  himself."  The  conduct  will  not  be  an 
index  of  the  animating  principle  of  the  man.  To  lose  sight  of  the 
necessary  integration  of  the  two  is  to  lose  sight  of  the  process  which 
makes  for  (or  against)  life  itself.  This  process  is  essentially  the  same 
for  all,  the  weak  as  well  as  the  strong. 

The  "absolutely  desirable"  for  man  taken  from  its  individual  or 
particularistic  setting  becomes  the  universal  called  the  good.  The 
good  has  a  dual  character  :  as  an  ideal  it  is  an  impelling  force,  urging 
from  within  that  it  must  realize  itself;  as  a  motive  it  is  a  drawing 
power,  urging  from  without  that  spirit  enter  into  and  take  possession 
of  that  to  which  it  gave  original  determination.  In  this  action,  as  an 
internal  and  as  an  external  power,  the  end  of  the  good  is  recognized 
by  the  will  as  a  subjective  construction  and  as  an  independent  object. 
Or,  to  express  it  differently,  the  practical  activity  of  the  idea  has  to 
deal  with  an  object  which  it  knows  has  not  existence ;  it  likewise 
knows  the  determined  end  to  be  in  the  mind ;  and  the  object  to  be 
something  external  to  the  self.  To  the  individuals  making  up  a  com- 
munity in  which  for  each  the  "  absolutely  desirable  "  is  the  character 
behind  the  conduct,  the  effort  of  each  to  better  himself  would  make 
absolutely  necessary  a  social  life  in  which  the  life-process  would  have 
its  fullest  opportunity,  for  the  ideal  always  tends  to  realize  itself  in 
action.     An  ideal  is  not,  as  is  generally  assumed,  an  ethereal  something 


36  ISOLATION  IN  THE  SCHOOL 

which  has  no  connection  with  the  practical  side  of  life.  It  is  the  ideal 
which  is  behind  every  act  of  the  will,  and  which  by  its  insistence  upon 
realization  gives  color  and  tone  to  our  whole  mental  life. 

On  the  other  hand,  to  the  individuals  making  up  a  community  in 
which  the  "absolutely  desirable"  of  an  assertive  man  or  woman  is  the 
animating  spirit  of  the  conduct  of  all,  the  social  requirement  would 
not  be  a  necessity,  for  the  life-process  in  character  and  conduct  would 
not  exist ;  the  assertively  selfish  would  be  more  selfish,  the  timidly  weak 
would  be  made  weaker.  What  is  true  of  the  influence  of  that  type  of 
mind  which  revels  in  seeing  its  aims  set  up  as  the  aim  of  the  members 
of  a  social  community  whose  occupations  differ,  and  hence  who  have 
other  stimuli  of  thought  and  action,  is  true  in  a  much  greater  degree 
when  the  members  belong  to  an  organization,  working  within  prescribed 
limits.  The  stated  object  of  the  organization,  and  the  acceptance  of 
that  statement,  in  a  measure  commits  all  the  members  to  a  common 
creed  ;  and  in  just  so  far  as  the  many  phrase  their  theories  and  beliefs 
as  they  have  been  phrased  for  them  will  there  be  a  weakening  of  the 
individual  effort  to  read  new  elements  into  the  theory  upon  which  they 
act.  This  does  not  necessitate  an  abandonment  of  the  institutions  of 
society,  neither  does  it  imply  a  lack  of  personal  freedom  because  of 
the  institutions.  It  does,  however,  emphasize  the  need  for  conditions 
in  all  institutions  and  organizations  which  shall  call  into  action  the 
intellectual  power,  as  well  as  the  spontaneity  of  feeling,  in  every  mem- 
ber, from  the  least  responsible  to  the  executive  at  the  top.  Neither 
egoism  nor  altruism  is  the  principle  which  makes  the  life-process.  The 
two  are  but  the  different  phases  which,  combined,  make  for  that  order 
of  society  which  strengthens  both  the  weak  and  the  strong.  As  John 
Stuart  Mill  expresses  it  :  "  The  very  corner-stone  of  an  education 
intended  to  form  great  minds  must  be  the  recognition  of  the  principle 
that  the  object  is  to  call  forth  the  greatest  possible  quantity  of  intel- 
lectual/^iwi?/",  and  to  inspire  the  intensest  love  of  truth;  and  this  with- 
out a  particle  of  regard  to  the  results  to  which  the  exercise  of  that 
power  may  lead,  even  though  it  should  conduct  the  pupil  to  opinions 
diametrically  opposite  to  those  of  his  teachers.  We  say  this,  not 
because  we  think  opinions  unimportant,  but  because  of  the  immense 
importance  which  we  attach  to  them  ;  for  in  proportion  to  the  degree 
of  intellectual  power  and  love  of  truth  which  we  succeed  in  creating 


RECENT  PSYCHOLOGIC,  ETHIC,  AND  LOGICAL  MODES  37 

is  the  certainty  that  (whatever  may  happen  in  any  one  particular 
instance)  in  the  aggregate  of  instances  true  opinions  will  be  the  result ; 
and  intellectual  power  and  practical  love  of  truth  are  alike  impossible 
where  the  reasoner  is  shown  his  conclusions  and  informed  beforehand 
that  he  is  expected  to  arrive  at  them."  It  is  necessary  to  keep  in  view 
this  element  of  intellectual  activity  because  of  the  generally  accepted 
idea  of  morality,  and  of  obedience  to  its  established  laws  or  rules,  which 
are  often  merely  specific  directions.  It  is  the  independent  play  of  the 
intellect  (the  logical  process)  which  makes  order  a  necessity  in  what 
sometimes  seems  like  a  world  of  chaos;  and  yet  to  the  great  majority 
the  terms  "  free  activity "  and  "freedom"  imply  anarchy.  The  dis- 
cussion of  these  terms  will  be  carried  on  many  years  before  they  will 
be  understood  in  their  true  significance.  It  is  with  "  freedom"  as  with 
the  "state  of  nature,"  which  was  long  a  favorite  term  with  writers  on 
political  topics.  Neither,  correctly  interpreted,  means  that  humanity 
has  only  to  be  removed  from  the  restrictions  of  social  organization 
to  become  perfect. 

Each  recognizes  the  potentialities  of  the  soul,  and  the  tendency 
toward  orderliness  which  persists  in  its  general  movement;  each  has  in 
view  the  possibility  of  freedom  —  a  higher  type  of  self-control  than  has 
yet  been  seen  in  any  civil  community.  True  freedom  regards  the 
social  law  as  something  which,  permeating  the  whole  social  fabric,  lays 
upon  each  member  obligations  to  high  thinking  and  right  living,  and 
also  guarantees  the  exercise  of  the  individual's  right  to  determine  him- 
self. The  divine  law  is  the  universal  toward  which  freedom  tends. 
The  aim  and  end  of  education  should  be  the  development  of  intel- 
lectual power  that  makes  for  order,  not  through  skepticism  and 
anarchy,  but  through  faith  and  freedom  according  to  the  law  of 
being. 

In  reviewing  the  attitude  of  modern  thought  toward  the  subject  of 
activity,  we  must  make  one  venture  into  the  domain  of  logic.  From 
the  formulation  of  the  doctrine  of  the  syllogism  by  Aristotle  until  the 
early  part  of  the  present  century,  a  scientific  statement,  a  judgment, 
was  not  considered  fully  established  unless  it  could  be  proved  that  it 
conformed  to  the  syllogistic  process.  At  the  present  day  the  syllogism 
is  not  held  in  high  repute.  Modern  logic  is  presented  as  a  study  of 
the  way  in  which  mind  reasons,  infers,  judges,  abstracts,  and  generalizes  ; 


38  ISOLATION  IN  THE  SCHOOL 

it  insists  upon  two  things  as  necessary  :  the  mind  must  have  con- 
cepts, ideas,  and  must  use  these  ideas  so  that  they  will  develop  in  the 
act  of  judging.  An  account  of  the  steps  by  which  the  logician,  after 
discerning  the  errors  in  ancient  and  mediaeval  theory,  has  reached  this 
position  in  a  struggle  of  fifty  years,  would  demonstrate  the  need  for 
patience  in  surveying  the  rate  at  which  the  race  progresses  toward  the 
attainment  of  truth.  While  the  nineteenth-century  logicians  have  been 
evolving  theory  based  on  these  two  essentials,  popular  opinion  has 
clung  to  scholastic  logic  with  its  finished  concepts,  and  its  manipula- 
tion of  these  for  the  purpose  of  comparison  and  classification.  The 
origination  and  the  process  of  judging  have  not  been  considered  as 
necessarily  concerned  with  the  evolution  of  mental  power.  According 
to  popular  theory,  the  initiative  in  the  formal  act  has  its  rise  in  the 
obedient  will,  rather  than  in  a  state  of  tension  induced  in  the  mind  by 
a  doubt  as  to  the  unity  of  a  simple  fact,  or  complex  of  facts,  and  an 
explanatory  comprehensive  idea  under  which  the  facts,  apparently, 
seem  to  gather.  While  it  is  true  that  the  doubt  may  be  occasioned  by 
hearing  anothej-  s.tate  the  doubt  as  existing  in  his  mind,  yet  it  is  not  a 
doubt  for  the  first  person  before  his  thought-movement  is  arrested  by 
the  question  suggested.  But  having  the  tension  made  conscious,  there 
is  still  not  the  act  of  judging  if  the  doubt  is  disposed  of  by  reference 
to  a  fixed  idea.  According  to  Dr.  Dewey,  upon  whose  lectures  on 
logic  the  following  is  based,  when  the  idea  is  used  unconsciously  and 
without  examination,  we  get  simple  apprehension  only.  Simple  appre- 
hension must  be  recognized  as  a  mode  of  activity,  but  too  long  has  it 
been  confounded  with  the  act  of  judgment.  The  trouble  is,  particu- 
larly in  institutional  life,  that,  these  processes  being  treated  as  identi- 
cal, the  subordinate  individual  is  in  a  state  of  arrested  development. 
He  believes  that  he  passes  judgment  on  the  inception  of  affairs  and 
their  conduct  which  are  vital  to  the  object  for  which  the  institution 
exists,  when  he  merely  refers  new  questions  to  a  fixed  idea  for  sub- 
sumption.  The  one  in  command  is  in  a  different  state  of  arrested 
development ;  one  resulting  from  the  lack  of  stimuli  originating  in 
judging  the  judgments  of  others  which  may  be  opposed  to  his  own. 
The  tyranny  of  an  intellectual  superiority  is  immeasurably  severer  than 
that  of  social  class  superiority.  Cooperation  in  the  realm  of  mind  is  of 
much   slower  growth   than  cooperation   in  the  world  of   labor.     The 


RECENT  PSYCHOLOGIC,  ETHIC,  AND  LOGICAL  MODES  39 

trained  intellect,  isolated  from  the  less  formally  trained,  fears  the 
approach  of  an  "intellectual  democracy." 

The  first  step  in  enlarging  the  mental  power  of  the  mass  of  people 
living  in  civilization  must  be  the  change  of  this  fear  to  faith  in  the 
latent  tendency  of  the  human  mind  to  develop  in  accord  with  the 
divine  mind.  Instead  of  an  acceptance  of  simple  apprehension  as  the 
type  of  judgment  best  suited  for  those  not  gifted  with  the  strong 
individualistic  tendencies  which  make  for  social  right-living,  the  great 
must  make  themselves  greater  through  urging  forward  to  the  exercise 
of  judgment  those  who  through  youth  or  subordination  may  tend  to 
accept  an  ideal  of  the  superior  in  age  or  position  as  the  unvarying 
standard.  The  educated  men  and  women  who  are  accomplishing 
something,  who  are  making  the  world  more  wholesome,  never  screen 
themselves  behind  an  intellectual  sentimentalism  which  fears  a  day 
when  the  poor  in  their  hours  of  labor,  as  well  as  of  rest  from  the  struggle 
for  life,  will  enjoy  the  things  of  the  mind,  because  of  a  sturdy  men- 
tality. It  is  not  the  fact  that  the  less  strong  distinguish  between  the 
fixed  and  fluid  ideas  that  makes  a  part  of  the  race  decadent ;  it  is  that 
the  supposedly  strong  cannot  so  distinguish  when  brofight  face  to  face 
with  life  in  the  institutions  of  society. 

Leaving  the  topic  of  simple  apprehension,  the  question  arises  :  What 
is  the  process  of  judging  as  analyzed  by  modern  thought  ?  It  originates, 
as  does  simple  apprehension,  in  doubt,  but  instead  of  fitting  new  things 
to  an  old  idea,  it  sets  up  an  interaction.  The  subject  of  the  judgment 
is  not  a  something  given,  as  the  subject  by  a  process  outside  of  the 
judgment.  Its  given  quality  is  something  that  judgment  itself  gives 
it.  It  is  that  which  is  taken  as  the  basis  for  further  investigation.  This 
does  not  mean  that  the  given  will  not  be  transformed  by  the  process. 
It  will  be  transformed.  The  given  is  data  in  scientific  sense.  Here 
we  have,  not  a  something  carefully  described  by  another,  and  this 
description,  without  analysis,  set  up  as  the  subject  of  a  judgment. 
The  very  thing  given  assumes  a  functional  activity  when  the  process  of 
judging  begins.  It  is  not  laid  in  a  form  prescribed  by  the  old  school 
of  logicians,  to  be  pressed  under  another.  It  arouses  the  intellect  to 
an  activity  somewhat  like  attention  in  the  psychologic  process.  The 
traits  in  the  subject  that  bear  on  the  doubt  are  selected  as  material  for 
the   new  experience  which   will    come    out    of    the  whole    act.     This 


40  ISOLATION  IN  THE  SCHOOL 

subject  is  made  more  definite  as  its  place  in  the  whole  situation  becomes 
plainer.  A  point  in  moral  or  educational  theory  cannot  form  the  sub- 
ject of  a  judgment  if  it  is  kept  isolated  from  the  practical  situation 
that  obtains,  and  is  treated  as  unrelated  to  the  past  and  present.  It 
must  make  evident  a  reality  which  is  to  be  placed  in  a  system.  But 
where  is  the  interaction,  between  what  ?  Between  the  subject,  the 
question,  the  statement  that  has  raised  the  doubt,  and  the  predicate, 
the  fluid  idea.  The  subject  is  not  mere  existence,  and  the  predicate, 
idea,  or  meaning  set  over  against  existence.  Such  a  distinction  is  mis- 
leading ;  it  seems  to  indicate  that  the  two,  existence  and  meaning,  are 
separated,  and  the  problem  is  how  to  unite  them.  They,  the  subject 
and  predicate,  represent  the  same  reality  or  experience,  the  same  system. 
They  are  a  distinction  of  aspects,  not  of  portions  or  elements.  They 
are  not  distinguished  before  the  act  of  judging  begins,  but  in  having 
begun,  then  the  points  of  identity  are  established  by  the  comparison 
of  similar  qualities  in  the  presentation  and  the  conception  ;  the  points 
of  difference  are  established  in  the  same  way.  That  comparison  shall 
result  in  clear  distinction,  the  mind  must  consciously  set  for  itself  the 
problem  of  determining  the  relative  values  of  a  certain  definite  phase 
of  the  unity  involved  in  the  subject  and  predicate.  The  activity  in 
deciding  what  the  uncertainty  is,  and  then  using  and  rejecting  neces- 
sary and  unnecessary  elements  which  the  mind  marshals  before  itself, 
and  finally  gathering  the  results  into  one  unity,  is  that  functioning  of 
the  judgment  which  is  in  the  natural  process  of  the  evolution  of  mental 
power.  In  this  process  the  individual  adds  to  his  mental  content  by 
the  classification  always  of  the  present  capital,  and  by  the  demands 
made  often  upon  that  which  was  not  previously  known  to  him.  In 
judgment,  as  treated  by  the  latest  scientific  study,  the  two  factors, 
individuality,  and  action  and  reaction,  that  is,  cooperation,  are  made 
indispensable ;  the  individuality  lies  largely  in  the  origination ;  the 
cooperation  is  the  interchange  between  the  situation  as  it  is  pre- 
sented and  the  full,  fuller,  knowledge  of  the  objective  realm  in 
which  the  elements  which  aroused  doubtful  condition  have  their  free 
play. 

Each  of  the  various  processes  herein  discussed  originates  in  an 
activity  which  is  the  natural  mode  of  expression  of  the  individual,  and 
is   the  positive   influence   in   the  continued  evolution    of    the    native 


RECENT  PSYCHOLOGIC,  ETHIC,  AND  LOGICAL  MODES  41 

powers  until  their  decline  sets  in  through  disease  or  senility.  Each 
may  have  its  motif  in  an  activity  which  is  a  quasi-natural  mode  of 
expression  of  the  individual,  and  a  quasi-positive  influence  in  a  devel- 
opment which  is  arrested  before  the  native  powers  have  reached 
maturity.  Habits  formed  through  the  effort  of  the  self  to  acquire 
control  of  the  impulses  which  seek  for  expression  ;  attention  trained 
through  the  effort  to  bring  under  control  in  the  focus  of  vision 
images  which  press  forward  ;  judgment  developed  through  the  effort 
to  identify  and  to  differentiate  qualities  in  two  widely  different  aspects 
of  a  unity,  are  evolutionary.  In  such  formation  of  habits,  training  of 
attention,  and  development  of  judgment,  the  self  directs  every  part  of 
the  organization,  physical  and  mental,  concerned  in  securing  an  end 
which  is  at  first  dimly  suggested  by  the  impulses,  the  interests,  the 
doubts.  As  the  activity  goes  on,  seemingly  inharmonious  tendencies 
gradually  reinforce  each  other,  inhibit  opposing  elements,  and  finally 
cooperate  in  a  unified  movement.  These  processes,  so  developed,  con- 
stitute, from  the  beginning  of  life,  the  instrumentalities  by  which  we 
advance  to  a  more  highly  organized  and,  hence,  simplified  technic  in 
all  affairs,  personal,  economic,  social,  and  political.  They  are  the 
means  by  which  we  change,  from  time  to  time,  our  modes  of  work,  of 
recreation,  of  thought ;  transferring  the  stress  so  that  we  do  not  find 
ourselves  left  behind,  able  to  manufacture  old  wares  only  —  wares 
which  are  no  longer  in  demand;  do  not  find  it  easier  to  wear  out  in 
the  old  groove  than  to  rest  by  change  of  interest ;  do  not  find  our 
judgment  depreciated  by  others  because  it  persists  in  dealing  with  the 
concepts  formed  long  ago ;  depreciated  because  its  decisions  before 
rendered  are  familiar  to  the  listeners.  These  last  conditions  in  which 
men  and  women  behold  themselves  cut  off  from  the  onward  movement 
of  the  world  about  them,  isolated  from  the  fullness  of  life  which  gives 
healthful  occupation  for  the  body  and  the  mind,  are  the  results  of  that 
quasi-natural  mode  of  activity  which  over-exercises  certain  muscles, 
or  centers,  or  mental  powers,  in  the  attempt,  through  drill,  to  secure 
ends  originated  by  others;  and  of  that  quasi-positive  influence  which, 
for  a  time,  often  gives  exact  duplicates  of  those  external  aims ;  but  at 
last,  in  the  words  of  Dr.  Harris,  "so  arrest  the  development  of  the  soul 
in  a  mechanical  method  of  thinking  as  to  prevent  further  growth  into 
spiritual  insight." 


42  ISOLATION  IN  THE  SCHOOL 

In  this  method  of  training,  the  self  does  not  gain  that  control  of  its 
impulses  which  makes  for  unification,  so  that  potentialities  may  be 
adapted  to  a  new  environment ;  it  has  acquired  the  power  to  do  spe- 
cific things  in  a  specified  place,  and  these  isolated  acts  often  prove 
handicaps  in  new  surroundings  with  new  demands,  so  that  incapacity 
results  from  the  non-recognition  of  the  maleficent  influence  of  isolation, 
where  there  should  be  unification  resulting  from  the  natural  and  posi- 
tive activity  of  the  soul.  The  same  holds  true  in  regard  to  knowledge 
which  is  acquired  because  someone  has  decided  that  such  facts  are 
useful.  Knowledge,  isolated  from  the  cause  which  makes  it  a  necessity 
to  the  learner,  and  from  the  effect  which  makes  it  valuable  to  him,  is 
mere  information  which  is  rarely  at  command  when  called  for. 

It  would  be  a  difificult  undertaking  to  find  a  person  who  has  the 
temerity  to  deny  the  existence  of  a  life-process  in  every  vegetable  and 
animal  organism.  That  variations  as  to  power  in  this  or  that  part  of 
the  process  are  found  in  species  and  in  individuals  would  be  readily 
conceded,  and  that  the  process  has  its  characteristic  stages  would  be 
recognized.  But  when  the  tnental  life-process  is  brought  up  for  dis- 
cussion it  becomes  evident  that  people  do  not  so  generally  and  thor- 
oughly believe  in  it  as  in  the  life-process  of  a  physical  organism.  That 
mind  develops  through  functioning  is  an  article  in  the  creeds  of  most 
people ;  but  that  it  functions  in  obedience  to  law  is  an  article  which 
would  be  rejected  from  most  of  those  creeds.  The  accumulation  of 
statements  of  the  observations  and  conclusions  of  others,  the  ability 
to  recount  in  their  order  the  steps  taken  by  those  others  in  making 
observations  and  arriving  at  conclusions,  would  answer  the  general 
conception  of  mind-activity.  According  to  that  general  conception, 
those  progressive  modifications  of  the  individual  and  society  that  mark 
an  advance  in  power  do  not  come  because  of  the  functioning  of  all 
minds.  They  have  come  as  the  product  of  the  action  of  the  thinking 
few,  who  are  called  thinkers  because  their  mental  life-process  is  carried 
on  in  accord  with  the  law  underlying  it. 

Were  faith  in  this  law  more  common,  fewer  would  conceive  of  good 
habits  as  something  drilled  in,  in  many  a  hard-fought  battle;  of  atten- 
tion as  a  kind  of  struggle  in  manipulating  images,  a  struggle  dur- 
ing which  is  frequently  heard  from  the  lips  of  the  one  trying  to  set 
the  aim  of  the  activity,  the  exhortation,  "Do  stop  guessing  and   pay 


RECENT  PSYCHOLOGIC,  ETHIC,  AND  LOGICAL  MODES  43 

attention  ;"  of  judgment  —  but  here  in  the  purely  intellectual  realms  of 
activity  we  find  nothing  comparable  to  those  drills  and  exhortations, 
because  the  mind  refuses  to  judge  under  direction.  It  may  make  a 
sycophantic  pretense  of  agreement,  but  neither  superior  nor  subordi- 
nate is  deceived  thereby.  This  breakdown  in  the  realms  of  pure 
thought  has  given  rise  to  the  opinion  that  many  naturally  have  no 
judgment,  or  at  best  only  poor  judgment;  that  of  the  seething  mass 
of  humanity  only  a  small  fractional  part  is  capable  of  any  develop- 
ment beyond  that  secured  in  accord  with  the  method  which  arrests 
growth. 

All  through  infancy  and  childhood,  all  through  life  until  the  time 
of  decline,  there  are  periods  and  seasons  when  certain  activities  are 
predominant.  If  in  those  different  stages  the  dominant  impulse  or 
interest  be  given  its  natural  free  play,  there  will  result  those  tastes  and 
powers  which  make  each  soul  know  its  peculiar  talents.  Every  soul 
may  not  have  sufficient  individual  energy  to  command  recognition  as 
being  talented,  but  there  are  inherent  in  each  those  tendencies  which, 
with  their  infinitesimal  variations  in  grouping,  make  a  being  different 
from  others  —  a  being  peculiarly  itself.  If  these  varied  tendencies, 
elements  of  strength,  be  developed  in  accord  with  the  mental  life- 
process,  then  will  each  human  being  know  the  joy  of  living  in  accord 
with  its  better,  its  true,  nature.  We  revel  in  the  beauties  of  forest 
and  field,  pouring  forth  our  admiration  over  the  modest  violet  and  the 
stalwart  oak,  differing  so  widely,  and  yet  each  illustrative  of  the  unity 
which  pervades  life.  Only  a  brief  survey  is  necessary  in  order  that  we 
may  know  how  successfully  either  is  carrying  on  the  function  of  nutri- 
tion by  which  the  plant  maintains  itself,  and  what  stage  it  has  reached 
in  the  reproductive  function.  Our  wonder  and  reverence  do  not  ter- 
minate with  the  recognition  of  these  two  functions  which  together  make 
the  life-process  of  every  plant ;  as  we  look  at  violets  and  oaks,  the 
infinitesimal  variations  are  such  that  no  two  violets,  no  two  oaks  are 
indistinguishable  ;  with  the  same  antecedents,  both  structural  and  func- 
tional, there  is  in  each  violet  and  each  oak  that  spontaneity  which 
makes  for  a  distinctive  life.  Herbert  Spencer  concludes  his  search  for 
the  cause  of  variation  in  individuals  and  species  with  this  dictum  : 
"  We  must  say  in  all  cases  adaptive  change  of  function  is  the  primary 
and  ever-acting  cause  of  that  change  of  structure   which   constitutes 


44  ISOLATION  IN  THE  SCHOOL 

variation,  and  that  the  variation  which  appears  to  be  'spontaneous'  is 
derivative  and  secondary ; "  yet  he  has  missed  the  main  question  at 
issue.  It  is  this  :  Why  does  one  organism  adapt  itself  to  a  change  of 
function,  while  another  heeds  not  the  "  unequal  and  ever-varying 
actions  of  incident  forces  on  its  different  parts"?  The  spontaneous 
action  upon  that  for  which  its  individual  nature  seeks  is  the  cause  of 
the  "adaptive  change  of  function."  In  writing  on  "Plant  Relations  " 
Dr.  Coulter  says :  "  It  is  evident  that  there  must  be  rivalry  among 
plants  in  occupying  an  area,  and  that  those  plants  which  can  most 
nearly  utilize  identical  conditions  will  be  the  most  intense  rivals. 
For  example,  a  great  many  young  oaks  may  start  up  over  an  area,  and 
it  is  evident  that  the  individuals  must  come  into  sharp  competition  with 
one  another,  and  that  but  few  of  them  succeed  in  establishing  them- 
selves permanently."  Now,  if  all  of  this  activity,  this  rivalry,  of  the  young 
oaks  is  mere  reaction  on  the  environment,  why  do  they  not  all  react 
alike,  and  so  all  live  or  die  together  with  the  same  adaptations  to  the 
peculiarities  of  the  surrounding,  stimulating  conditions  ?  It  is  in  the 
spontaneity  of  the  successful  individual  oaks  that  the  adaptations  origi- 
nate. Popular  theory  has  made  for  humanity  an  advance  upon,  "  All 
evils  result  from  non-adaptation  of  constitutions  to  conditions,"  by 
saying,  "  Man  must  conquer  his  environment." 

Without  further  discussion  of  individuality  in  the  vegetable  world, 
this  question  may  be  raised  :  If  each  and  every  plant  has  its  distin- 
guishing traits  which  originate  spontaneously  and  give  it  individuality 
throughout  life,  how  dare  we  deny  to  any  soul  the  evolution  of  its 
peculiar  traits  which,  spontaneously  initiated,  make  for  individuality ; 
become  its  talents,  its  genius?  In  the  quotation  from  Dr.  Coulter 
there  is  the  suggestion  of  that  competition  which  is  comprehended  in 
the  "  survival  of  the  fittest,"  and  so,  on  first  thought,  one  would  infer 
that  development  of  individual  traits  would  only  increase  the  strife 
between  the  members  of  any  human  society,  that  individualism  would 
rend  all  social  organizations.  Competition  between  myriads  of  human 
beings  all  trained  to  a  set  end  is  the  result  of  the  non-recognition  of  the 
life-process  with  its  minute  differentiations  which  make  the  special  talents. 
With  the  development  which  recognizes  the  essence  of  personality  to 
be  what  the  individual  makes  of  his  original  equipment,  a  larger  world 
will  be  open  as  the  field  of  operations,  and  so  each  can  more  nearly 


RECEN7  PSYCHOLOGIC,  ETHIC,  AND  LOGICAL  MODES  45 

approach  the  realization  of  possibilities  which  must  forever  lie  dor- 
mant if  each  soul  does  not  acquire  throughout  the  voyage  of  life  more 
and  more  strength  because  of  a  unified  control  of  its  variant  powers. 
David  Starr  Jordan  sums  up  environment  and  activity  in  a  few  telling 
sentences:  "The  pressure  of  environment  gives  only  pain  in  itself. 
Ennui  is  chronic  pain,  nature's  warning  against  the  dry-rot  of  functional 
inactivity.  To  enjoy  life  man  or  animal  must  be  doing ^ — working, 
thinking,  fighting,  loving  —  something  positive.  And  no  thought  or 
feeling  of  the  mind  is  complete  till  it  has  somehow  brought  itself  into 
action." 

The  greatest  question  before  civilized  nations  today  is  whether  the 
law  of  the  mental  life-process  shall  be  recognized  in  education  as  origi- 
nal in  all  minds,  or  as  peculiar  to  certain  types  only.  Or,  to  put  it  in 
another  way,  shall  the  mental  powers  of  the  few  be  exercised  according 
to  law,  and  those  of  the  many  be  isolated  from  that  which  evolves 
power  — the  initiative  in  action  —  or  shall  all  be  active  as  organic 
parts  of  the  thinking  world  ?  Rude  self-assertion  and  hopeless  self- 
renunciation  are  the  attendants  upon  an  abnormal  mental  restraint,  as 
disease  and  weakness  are  the  attendants  upon  physical  inaction.  As 
a  high  degree  of  energy  and  reasonable  powers  of  endurance  are  the 
result  of  a  regimen  in  accord  with  the  law  underlying  the  life-process 
of  the  physical  organism,  so  a  well-poised  self-assertion  and  a  judicious 
self-renunciation  are  the  results  of  an  activity  in  harmony  with  the  law 
underlying  the  mental  life-process. 


III. 

THE  FUNCTION  OF  A  SCHOOL   IN  A  DEMOCRACY. 

Following  close  upon  this  question  of  activity  in  the  mental  life 
as  presented  by  modern  theory  is  that  pertaining  to  the  function  of 
the  school  in  this  government.  In  its  general  aim  the  function  of  the 
private  and  the  public  school  is  the  same,  but,  because  the  latter  is 
directly  dependent  upon  the  state  for  its  life,  it  has  been  subjected  to 
a  closer  scrutiny  both  as  to  methods  and  results.  Critics  of  democracy 
and  critics  of  the  public  schools  unite  in  making  essentially  the  same 
criticism  on  our  form  of  government  and  on  our  schools,  though  they 
express  themselves  differently.  The  first,  the  critics  of  democracy,  say 
that  its  tendency  is  to  breed  many  commonplace,  average  men  upon 
whom  the  responsibilities  of  the  state  will  fall,  instead  of  a  few  great 
men  who  might  easily  assume  the  duties  of  statesmanship.  Critics  of 
the  public  school  say  that  it  is  dominated  by  the  theory  of  uniformity, 
and  they  ask  why  teachers  who  help  to  make  the  school  a  mere  mill, 
grinding  uniform  grists,  are  retained.  The  obverse  of  this  is  found 
among  the  teachers.  An  energetic  and  thoughtful  part  of  the  corps  is 
strenuously  decrying  that  form  of  systematism  of  the  schools  which 
tends  to  make  automatons  of  the  teachers.  This  opposition  began 
before  criticism  of  the  method  of  the  schools  was  well  defined  in  the 
minds  of  those  on  the  outside.  Here  we  have  a  curious  condition  of 
affairs.  The  objects  of  the  critics  and  the  teachers  seem  widely  differ- 
ent. The  first  aim  to  purge  the  schools  of  the  present  type  of  teacher  ; 
the  second  aim  to  displace  the  mechanical  action  of  the  school.  Inves- 
tigation will  show  their  ultimate  aims  to  be  identical.  With  truth, 
the  schools  are  frequently  pointed  out  as  the  greatest  unifying  agent 
extant  in  this  land,  whose  people  represent  all  European  peoples,  and 
yet  who  have  a  common  faith  in  the  integral  principles  of  the  constitu- 
tion of  its  national  and  state  organizations. 

How  varied  are  the  races  that  have  come  from  Europe  !  Though 
of  the  Aryan  stock,  the  branches  have  each  their  marked  peculiarities. 
Not  alone  the  differences  in  the  Celtic,  the  Romanic,  the  Germanic, 
the  Slavonic,  and  the  Graeco-Italian  blend,  but  the  differences  growing 

46 


FUNCTION  OF  A  SCHOOL  IN  A  DEMOCRACY  47 

out  of  the  social  customs  of  the  many  nations  into  which  long  ago  the 
races  had  divided  have  been  brought  into  the  public  school  to  be 
minimized,  obliterated,  harmonized  in  the  process  of  unification.  A 
survey  of  the  past  two  hundred  years  shows  the  children  of  the  poor 
and  the  rich,  of  the  English-speaking  and  the  non-English-speaking 
races,  of  the  various  religious  faiths,  all  meeting  on  a  common  ground 
and  with  a  common  interest  —  the  mastery  of  the  printed  page.  As 
the  young  have  striven  side  by  side  in  the  common  school,  they  have 
learned,  not  from  the  printed  page,  but  through  experience,  that  the 
soul  is  not  classified  according  to  its  worldly  possessions,  the  particular 
language  spoken  in  the  home,  or  the  faith  in  which  it  is  reared. 
Differences  in  race  customs  might  have  been  so  intensified  by  the 
segregation  of  immigrants  of  different  nationalities  that  open  hostility 
would  have  been  the  prevailing  attitude  of  different  settlements  toward 
each  other.  So  potent  has  been  the  public  school  in  creating  a 
sentiment  favorable  to  oneness,  to  Americanism,  that  sectional 
antagonism  based  on  racial  characteristics  maintained  in  their  original 
forms  is  unknown.  In  childhood,  millions  of  America's  citizens  have 
learned  something  of  the  fundamentals  in  the  unity  of  the  human  race. 
The  comradeship  in  experience  developed  by  the  democratic  spirit 
pervading  the  methods  in  instruction  and  discipline,  is  a  more  positive 
factor  in  the  sympathetic  appreciation  existing  between  members  of 
different  religious  and  social  organizations  than  the  association  in 
private  or  denominational  schools  can  ever  be. 

It  is  the  free  public  school  that  has  made  the  child  of  foreign 
parentage  strive  to  take  on  the  habits  of  dress,  speech,  and  thought 
that  would  identify  him  with  the  people  whose  ancestors  were  merged 
into  this  social  and  political  society  at  an  earlier  date  than  were  his. 

Now,  unification  is  concerned  more  with  the  spirit,  the  general  aim, 
than  it  is  with  the  reduction  of  the  many  elements  to  an  unvarying 
form.  The  highest  type  of  unification  would  be  that  which  would  send 
out  into  the  world  from  the  school  boys  and  girls,  young  men  and 
women,  trained  to  clear  thinking,  active  in  their  belief  in  a  personal 
responsibility  for  the  realization  of  the  humanitarian  idea  underlying 
the  form  of  government  in  which  the  American  state  is  embodied. 

So  rapid,  however,  has  been  the  unexpected  development  of  problem 
after  problem  that  the  school  has  begun  to  lose  ground  in  this  its  greatest 


48  ISOLATION  IN  THE  SCHOOL 

work.  Unification  was  confounded  with  uniformity  by  the  leaders, 
reformers,  and  organizers  in  their  efforts  to  make  that  systematic  which 
was  to  a  considerable  degree  chaotic.  The  human  mind,  the  most  deli- 
cate, the  most  sensitive,  the  most  complex  of  all  organizations,  loses 
power,  is  arrested  in  its  development,  if  its  efforts  are  directed  toward 
establishing  unvarying  conditions  in  its  own  environment  and  in  that  of 
others  also.  Mind  must  continue  to  enlarge  its  environ  ment,  and  increase 
its  ability  to  cope  with  the  forces  that  would  restrict,  or  repress,  its  native 
powers  and  modes  of  action.  For  teachers  and  pupils  to  become  parts  of 
an  "incoherent  homogeneity"  is  for  them  to  lose  in  their  school  life 
that  individuality  which  is  the  inherent  right  of  every  soul.  An 
inspection  of  the  courses  of  study,  with  their  elaborate  explanations  of 
the  method  and  scope  in  the  presentation  of  the  merely  incidental, 
which  followed  the  adoption  of  the  plan  of  graded  schools,  would 
furnish  abundant  proof  of  the  narrowing  influence  of  the  attempts  to 
organize  through  the  establishment  of  uniformity  in  the  minutest 
details  of  method.  That  the  American  people,  who  are  so  deeply 
imbued  with  the  possibility  of  political  self-government  for  all  peoples, 
could  have  become  infatuated  with  this  idea  of  inflexible  methods  in 
training  their  children  can  be  explained  only  on  the  ground  of  seclusion, 
isolation,  from  the  great  movements  in  the  world.  The  consecration 
of  their  life  as  a  people  to  the  idea  of  self-direction,  self-control,  made 
them  magnify  that  which  had  been  accomplished,  as  the  permanent 
result  of  high  thinking  and  acting  which  would  be  a  standard  for  all 
time  to  come. 

In  the  reaction  against  the  exactitude  and  exactions  of  the  nar- 
row definiteness  of  uniformity,  indefiniteness  is  the  predominant  char- 
acteristic. Within  and  without  the  school  are  opposing  parties  ;  one 
advocating  a  return  to  the  old  theory  and  practice  which  limited  edu- 
cation by  the  state  to  acquaintance  with  reading  and  writing  —  the  key 
to  knowledge ;  the  other  insisting  that  the  theory  upon  which  a 
democracy  rests,  places  upon  every  man  and  woman  rights  and  obliga- 
tions which  cannot  be  intelligently  comprehended  by  that  part  of  the 
members  having  such  slight  preparation  as  the  first  party  would  give  it. 
Whatever  may  be  the  attitude  of  the  advocate  of  a  narrow  and  super- 
ficial education,  that  openness  and  flexibility  of  mind  which  would 
prepare  a  people  to  cope  with  the  changes  that  will  come  "through 


FUNCTION  OF  A  SCHOOL  IN  A  DEMOCRACY  49 

that  irresistible  force,  the  modern  spirit,"  is  the  one  which  should  char- 
acterize the  mental  attitude  of  all  within  the  precincts  of  the  school. 
Without  this,  the  school  will  do  little  in  adding  to  the  grandeur  of  the 
future  of  America.  A  narrow  provincialism  will  merely  groove  deeper 
the  ideas  which  once  sufficed  for  a  state  whose  people  were  laying  the 
foundations  for  material  necessities.  Already  have  those  ideas  proved 
themselves  unequal  to  the  demands  upon  them.  It  is  this  dominance 
of  provincialism,  with  its  limited  ideas,  not  expanded  to  a  compre- 
hension of  what  makes  a  state,  which  today  makes  much  of  the  confu- 
sion regarding  the  relation  of  the  state  and  the  school. 

The  inadequacy  of  a  theory  of  public  education  which  recognizes 
past  conditions  only,  and  ignores  those  formative  influences  that  are 
shaping  the  future,  is  becoming  manifest.  It  is  difficult  to  base  a  theory 
of  public  education  on  a  conception  of  the  meaning  of  human  society 
and  its  organization  that  will  guarantee  to  each  individual  the  full 
exercise  of  his  powers  in  preparing  to  help  solve  the  problem  of  gov- 
ernment by  the  people.  The  rapid  development  of  natural  science 
and  its  differentiation  into  many  departments  ;  the  opening  out  of  the 
artistic  world  before  an  aesthetically  starved  people  ;  the  recognition 
of  the  power,  as  well  as  the  culture,  that  comes  through  linguistic  and 
literary  attainments  ;  all  of  these  have  been  potent  forces  in  awakening 
the  American  people  to  the  many  aspects  of  knowledge  and  training. 
With  the  enlargement  of  the  national  appreciation  of  the  possibilities 
of  culture  and  strength  in  the  realms  of  science,  art,  and  literature, 
there  has  been  a  tendency  to  attempt  making  all  of  these  the  posses- 
sion of  the  young.  One  good  resulted  from  this  overloading  of  the 
course  of  study  :  in  the  attempt  to  retain  all  subjects,  attention  was 
drawn  to  the  isolation  of  each,  and  for  a  brief  period  the  opposite  of 
isolation,  /.  e.,  correlation,  was  the  watchword  of  the  day.  There  is  as 
yet  but  slight  change  in  the  opinion  of  the  two  opposing  parties  on  the 
subject  of  state  education,  yet  each  is  influencing  the  other  and  bring- 
ing the  subject  of  the  course  of  study  of  the  schools  into  the  field  of 
social  inquiry.  This  opposition  presents  the  extremes  of  educational 
theory  and  practice,  which  have  ever  been  present  in  ancient  and  mod- 
ern life.  On  the  one  hand,  the  narrowness  and  forcefulness  of  the 
past  are  extolled,  while  the  indefiniteness  and  superficiality  of  the 
present  furnish  ominous  signs  of  decadence ;  on  the  other  hand,  the 


5©  ISOLATION  IN  THE  SCHOOL 

wealth  and  variety  of  the  present  are  regarded  as  indications  of  an 
enrichment  of  life,  while  the  meagerness  and  formalism  of  the  past  are 
condemned.  The  settlement  of  these  views  by  the  state  will  materially 
influence  its  own  character  in  the  future.  If  the  school  must  oscillate 
between  extremes,  much  of  its  value  as  an  institution  of  civil  life  must 
be  lost,  as  in  extremes  there  are  evils  that  overwhelm  much  of  the  good 
in  the  theories  which  they  represent.  No  fixed  theory  of  education,  as 
in  China,  is  possible  or  desirable,  but  it  should  be  possible  to  reduce 
the  wide  difference  between  the  view  of  conservatives  and  liberals  in 
education  as  in  politics,  so  that  sound  attainments  and  the  modern 
spirit  may  always  characterize  the  ideal  of  the  public  school. 

Although  the  private  schools  and  universities  are  not  directly 
responsible  to  the  state,  yet  there  can  be  no  evasion  of  their  immediate 
relation  to  society  and  its  welfare.  The  higher  institutions  are  forging 
along,  in  the  endeavor  to  command  recognition  as  active  factors  in  the 
forward  movement  of  the  nation.  The  lower  private  schools  as  a 
class  are  isolated,  and  yet  they  meet  the  approval  of  a  portion  of  the 
many  communities,  because  they  are  not  bewildered  by  attempts  to 
meet  all  the  demands  of  modern  utilitarian  and  culture  theories. 
Nothing  is  more  remarkable  than  the  reversal  of  attitude  by  the  public 
elementary  and  secondary  schools,  and  the  private  school  and  academy, 
in  connection  with  the  number  of  subjects  in  which  instruction  is 
given.  The  former  is  endeavoring  to  function  as  an  institution  of  the 
social  world;  the  latter  is  limiting  itself  to  a  definite  task,  that  of 
meeting  the  requirements  for  admission  to  college.  As  a  result,  the 
one  is  attempting  to  leave  no  field  of  learning  neglected,  while  the 
other  is  cultivating  prescribed  fields  only.  Several  questions  present 
themselves  here.  Are  the  public  kindergarten,  elementary,  and  second- 
ary schools  organic  parts  of  a  unity,  cooperating  with  each  other,  or 
are  they  practically  isolated  so  that  each  in  a  measure  duplicates  the 
other  ?  Are  they  more  nearly  in  touch  with  the  spirit  of  American 
life  than  the  private  schools  which  are  so  closely  connected  with  the 
colleges  ?  A  careful  comparison  of  the  aims  and  method  of  public 
and  private  schools  would  be  valuable.  The  broad  experience  and 
range  of  work  in  the  one  would  be  suggestive  in  the  light  of  the  more 
limited  and  yet  more  intensive  activity  of  the  other  ;  the  stress  on 
power,  rather  than  facts,  in  the  one,  and  in  the  other  the  emphasis  on 


FUNCTION  OF  A  SCHOOL  IN  A  DEMOCRACY  5 1 

the  mastery  of  the  foundations,  are  two  phases  of  the  educational  life 
that  should  be  weighed  carefully. 

Interest  in  the  problems  of  society  and  of  government  is  leading 
inquiring  students  of  the  philosophy  of  right  to  turn  to  the  school 
and  ask  what  it  is  doing  toward  training  for  citizenship.  In  return, 
the  schools  are  experimenting  with  the  forms  by  which  the  machinery 
of  political  parties  is  operated.  There  are  different  methods  in  the 
schools,  though  the  general  object  is  the  same  :  to  familiarize  the  future 
citizens  with  the  theory  and  method  of  the  state  of  which  they  are  to 
be  a  part.  This  is  not  the  place  to  discuss  the  advisability  of  begin- 
ning with  the  technique  of  civil  organization,  carrying  on  elections, 
running  for  ofifice,  et  cetera.  Bishop  Spalding's  words,  written  without 
reference  to  this  method,  express  one  side  of  this  question  :  "  Do  not 
our  young  men  lack  noble  ambition  ?  Are  they  not  satisfied  with  low 
aims  ?  To  be  a  legislator  ;  to  be  a  governor  ;  to  be  talked  about ;  to 
live  in  a  marble  house  —  seems  to  them  to  be  a  thing  to  be  desired. 
Unhappy  youths  from  whom  the  power  and  goodness  of  life  are  hidden, 
who,  standing  in  the  presence  of  the  unseen,  infinite  world  of  truth 
and  beauty,  can  only  dream  some  aldermanic  nightmare."  Whether 
the  emphasis  on  forms  in  our  government  will  give  a  development 
other  than  on  the  mechanical  side,  whether  it  will  illuminate  the  under- 
lying theory,  whether  it  will  help  develop  great  personalities,  are  ques- 
tions of  paramount  interest.  Every  boy  and  girl  before  going  out 
from  the  schools  of  America  "should  be  educated  into  a  self-con- 
sciousness of  the  essential  equality  and  freedom  of  all  men,  so  that  he 
shall  recognize  and  acknowledge  himself  in  each  and  all ;"  and  though 
the  transfer  of  monitorial  powers  and  duties  to  the  young  may  make 
the  few  appreciate  the  cares  of  the  teachers  in  securing  orderly  con- 
duct, yet  it  cannot  be  effective  in  preparing  a  nation  for  self-govern- 
ment. 

Throughout  the  life  of  the  public  and  private  elementary  schools 
the  history  of  this  country  as  described  by  its  wars  has  been  the  sub- 
ject of  many  an  hour's  excited  discussion  by  children  ranging  from 
twelve  to  fifteen  years  of  age.  With  glowing  hearts  have  they  described 
the  marches  and  the  battles  of  the  brave  who  have  sunk  to  rest,  blessed 
by  their  country.  Eagerly  have  they  searched  for  evidence  of  the 
courage  and  honor  of  their  heroes.    Today,  as  the  people  of  the  North 


52  ISOLATION  IN  THE  SCHOOL 

and  the  South  endeavor  to  knit  closer  the  bonds  that  make  them  a 
single  nation,  the  children  in  one  section  are  reciting  the  triumphs  of 
the  blue  over  the  gray,  and  in  the  other  the  triumphs  of  the  gray  over 
the  blue.  This  continued  development  of  the  hostile  spirit  between 
the  young  of  the  two  sections  brings  into  the  foreground  the  question 
of  the  function  of  the  school.  Should  the  history  of  the  blot  on  our 
name  be  omitted  ?  Certainly  not.  But  the  story  of  a  wrong  wiped 
out,  and  the  fanning  of  the  flames  of  sectionalism,  are  very  different 
things  to  a  patriot.  The  boys  and  girls  trained  to  view  the  people  of 
another  part  of  this  country  as  enemies  are  isolated  from  the  influ- 
ence of  the  great  wave  of  brotherhood  which  is  making  the  nation  a 
unity.  Has  the  concentration  upon  the  objectionable  conduct  of  our 
enemies  tended  to  make  the  traveling  host  of  Americans  doubt  the 
teaching  of  the  schools,  when  the  enemy  has  been  met  in  foreign 
lands  ?  An  excellent  illustration  of  the  effect  of  mistaken  zeal  in 
emphasizing  the  excellence  of  our  own  deeds,  or  those  of  our  ancestors, 
was  the  appearance  before  a  school  superintendent,  of  a  delegation  of 
mothers,  descendants  of  the  slaves  of  the  old  slave-holding  South,  to 
protest  against  the  continual  reference  in  the  class-study  of  our  Civil 
War  to  "the  slaves,  the  poor  slaves  whom  we  freed."  That  protest 
suggested  the  need  of  a  study,  not  of  the  ethics  of  war,  but  of  the 
ethics  of  peace  resulting  from  a  war.  A  little  reflection  will  satisfy  one 
that  in  the  study  of  history  the  young  are  not  trained  to  a  high  type 
of  citizenship  by  aggrandizement  through  the  spontaneous  identifica-' 
tion  of  self  with  a  masterful  past.  A  broad  knowledge  of  history  and  a 
fair  degree  of  familiarity  with  jurisprudence  should  be  the  least  equip- 
ment of  one  who  teaches  the  national  history  to  boys  and  girls,  if  that 
study  is  to  be  effectual  in  advancing  public  morality.  Political  clubs 
that  aim  to  develop  public  virtues  by  mere  sensational  orations  before 
the  history  classes  in  the  elementary  schools,  will  find  eventually  that 
they  have  built  on  a  quicksand. 

Unconsciously  the  American  people  have  undertaken  to  solve  the 
problem  of  laying  in  the  home,  the  foundation  for  citizenship  in  a  self- 
governing  state.  Necessarily  their  mistakes  have  been  many,  and  a 
few  serious  defects  bid  fair  to  become  permanent.  With  all  the  mis- 
takes, a  careful  observer  must  recognize  the  moral  character  of  the 
advanced  method  that  prevails  in  the  intercourse  between  parents  and 


FUNCTIOiV  OF  A  SCHOOL  IN  A  DEMOCRACY  53 

children.  While  the  parent  retains  the  right  of  final  decision,  yet  the 
children  are  not  treated  as  being  in  a  state  of  merely  potential  free- 
dom in  all  things.  The  exercise  of  the  right  of  choice  in  regard  to 
conduct  pertaining  to  affairs  comprehended  within  their  circle  of 
thought  and  action  will  train  their  judgment  so  that  in  the  larger 
circles  with  the  increased  complexity  of  life,  while  the  youth  or  adult 
will  find  more  conditions  to  consider,  there  will  not  be  new  problems 
wholly  foreign  to  past  experience.  It  is  generally  conceded  that  the 
children  whose  conduct  is  directed  and  controlled  so  that  they  are 
isolated  from  active  origination  of  the  same  are  the  least  prepared  for 
the  struggle  in  the  world  when  they  pass  from  the  state  of  tute- 
lage. 

In  the  recognition  of  the  freedom  of  the  human  mind  in  its  suc- 
cessive stages  of  development  there  are  three  ways  in  which  teachers 
and  parents  may  accord  it : 

a)  Children  may  be  humored  as  if  they  were  in  a  world  of  pre- 
tense, a  world  isolated  from  the  real.  Observation  shows  the  results 
of  this  method  to  be  the  same  that  would  be  produced  with  human 
beings  of  any  age.  The  results  are  pettishness  toward  the  obstacles 
that  confront  them  and  suspicion  of  the  intention  underneath  the 
declared  attitude  of  those  having  power  to  determine  the  general 
course  of  the  opposing  conditions.  Much  of  the  irritability  and 
capriciousness  of  American  children  is  due  to  the  tendency  of  parents 
to  play  with  a  freedom  which  is  not  potential,  but  is  a  right. 

b)  Children  may  be  given  freedom  in  all  matters  as  if  they  were  in 
the  adult  stage,  many  of  whose  impulses  and  interests  should  be  foreign 
to  the  young.  They  have  a  claim  upon  their  parents  for  support  and 
education,  but  during  the  continuance  of  the  state  in  which  that  claim 
is  in  force  there  should  be  a  distinction  as  to  freedom  in  deciding 
upon  matters  connected  with  those  conditions  in  which  it  is  potential 
and  those  in  which  it  is  actual. 

c)  Children  may  be  justly  treated  by  having  them  exercise  freedom 
in  origination  and  in  realization  of  lines  of  conduct  which  are  within 
the  range  of  their  reason  and  personality.  Only  upon  reflection  can 
parents  arrive  at  a  comprehension  of  the  lines  within  that  range. 
Upon  the  interpretation  of  "freedom  is  the  soul's  birthright"  depends 
the  moral  training  of  the  nation. 


54  ISOLATION  IN  THE  SCHOOL 

Between  the  merits  of  the  extreme  which,  on  one  hand,  exacts  obe- 
dience and  subordination  to  the  dictates  of  teachers  and  parents  in  all 
things,  and  that  which,  on  the  other  hand,  grants  all  rights  to  children, 
it  is  difficult  to  decide.  In  each  extreme  the  children  reach  adult  life, 
devoid  of  that  command  of  self  which  can  be  realized  in  the  highest 
degree  possible  for  each  individual,  only  as  the  power  of  initiative  and 
execution  is  exerted  in  the  sphere  to  which  the  individual  belongs  in 
the  evolution  of  his  nature  or  character.  To  repress  this  power  in 
connection  with  those  duties,  in  the  performance  of  which  the  child  is 
capable  of  exercising  it,  is  to  dwarf  him  ;  to  encourage  the  exercise 
of  this  power  in  connection  with  that  which  does  not  belong  in  the 
child's  world  of  thought  and  action  is  to  develop  him  prematurely. 

Never  has  the  function  of  the  school  in  a  state  been  more  plainly 
indicated  than  is  that  of  the  public  school  in  this  country  in  evolving 
a  theory  and  practice  of  developing  self-government  for  childhood  and 
youth.  The  predominance  given  just  now  to  the  value  of  the  school- 
training  in  fitting  the  coming  men  and  women  to  carry  forward  the 
work  of  popular  sovereignty  —  a  work  to  which  this  nation  has  conse- 
crated itself — indicates  the  forcing  of  the  old  question,  "What  is  the 
function  of  the  school  ?  "  into  the  consciousness  of  public  thought,  with 
the  added  idea  that  the  school  is  a  part  of  the  state.  All  of  this  shows 
a  broadening  of  the  conception  of  a  state.  An  interaction  is  being  set 
up  between  the  idea  of  a  state  and  that  of  a  school.  The  relation  of 
the  whole  to  its  parts  is  undergoing  investigation.  Though  the  politi- 
cal horizon  is  darkened  by  the  clouds  that  lower  about  it,  yet  the  light 
must  break  through  them  ere  long,  for  the  isolation  of  the  various 
instrumentalities  of  society  is  becoming  a  thing  of  the  past.  That  lib- 
erty and  equality  which  had  disappeared  in  the  national  consciousness 
of  political  superiority  are  again  open  questions  which  must  be  inter- 
preted by  the  light  of  original  investigation  and  application. 

The  school  cannot  take  up  the  question  of  the  development  of 
training  for  citizenship  in  a  democracy  while  the  teachers  are  still 
segregated  in  two  classes,  as  are  the  citizens  in  an  aristocracy. 

No  more  un-American  or  dangerous  solution  of  the  difficulties 
involved  in  maintaining  a  high  degree  of  efficiency  in  the  teaching 
corps  of  a  large  school  system  can  be  attempted  than  that  which  is 
effected  by  what  is  termed  "close  supervision."     Frequent  visitations 


FUNCTION  OF  A  SCHOOL  IN  A  DEMOCRACY  55 

to  the  schools  in  the  district,  or  ward,  bring  the  minutiae  of  each 
schoolroom  into  the  foreground,  and  develop  a  feeling  of  responsi- 
bility for  matters  of  petty  detail  which  are  of  a  purely  personal  nature; 
and  hence  it  follows  that  a  ranking  officer  may  be  so  near  to  the  daily 
work  as  to  have  an  exaggerated,  or  mistaken,  conception  of  the  obliga- 
tions of  a  superintendent  in  determining  the  method  in  regard  to  even 
the  non-essentials  in  the  conduct  of  the  school.  In  a  short  time  the 
teachers  must  cease  to  occupy  the  position  of  initiators  in  the  indi- 
vidual work  of  instruction  and  discipline,  and  must  fall  into  a  class  of 
assistants,  whose  duty  consists  in  carrying  out  instructions  of  a  higher 
class  which  originates  method  for  all.  The  reaction  from  close  super- 
vision with  one  set  of  dominant  ideas  to  close  supervision  with  another 
set  has  been  the  basis  of  procedure  in  every  large  system,  with  little 
recognition  of  the  fundamental  difficulty  in  the  theory.  In  colleges 
and  universities  the  benumbing  theory  of  close  supervision  of  the 
members  of  the  faculties  is  unknown ;  and  yet  it  is  generally  held  as 
an  inspiring,  natural  one  for  elementary  schools.  There  must  come  a 
recognition  of  the  law  of  life  in  those  schools.  The  rights  and  obliga- 
tions that  inhere  in  members  in  different  parts  of  the  system  must  be 
subjected  to  careful  analysis,  and  then  the  teaching  corps  must  be 
unfettered  in  its  activity  in  striving  to  realize  those  things  which  will 
evolve  themselves  in  a  free  play  of  thought  in  the  individual  and  the 
community. 

To  secure  this  freedom  of  thought,  there  must  be,  within  the  various 
parts  of  the  school,  organizations  for  the  consideration  of  questions  of 
legislation.  Such  organizations  have  been  effected  in  some  universi- 
ties and  in  a  few  school  systems,  but  in  the  latter  they  lack  some  essen- 
tial features  for  securing  freedom  of  thought ;  and  yet  they  are  deemed 
satisfactory ;  so  little  does  the  teaching  corps  know  about  origination 
of  thought  on  questions  concerning  education.  Without  doubt,  coun- 
cils for  discussion  and  recommendation  may  be  organized,  and  seem  to 
have  an  eminently  successful  life,  and  yet  come  far  short  of  their 
potentialities.  The  voice  of  authority  of  position  not  only  must  not 
dominate,  but  must  not  be  heard  in,  the  councils.  There  should  be 
organized,  throughout  every  system,  school  councils  whose  membership 
in  the  aggregate  should  include  every  teacher  and  principal.  The 
membership  of  each  school  council  should  be  small  enough  to  make 


56  ISOLATION  IN  THE  SCHOOL 

the  discussions  deliberative,  not  sensational;  and  yet  it  should  always 
include  the  teaching  corps  from  at  least  two  different  schools,  so  that 
the  official  character  which  necessarily  pervades  the  meetings  of  the 
principal  and  teachers  of  a  school  shall  be  eliminated.  The  necessity 
for  such  an  organization  of  each  first  council  that  shall  insure  a  free 
play  of  thought  and  its  expression,  rather  than  courage  in  opposing 
and  declaiming,  because  restive  under  restraint,  cannot  be  made 
too  emphatic.  There  should  be  councils  composed  of  delegates 
from  the  first  councils  ;  and  one  central  council  composed  of  delegates 
from  the  second  councils.  The  representation  in  the  second  and  the 
central  councils  should  not  be  determined  by  ranking  positions  in  the 
schools.  It  is  fair  to  assume  that  the  delegates  would  be  selected  with 
care.  After  the  recommendations  have  been  made  to  the  superin- 
tendent, and  he  with  the  assistant  or  district  superintendents  and  the 
supervisors  of  special  studies,  has  discussed  them,  if  there  are  any  points 
of  difference  in  judgment,  the  district  superintendents  should  meet 
the  first  councils  and  present  the  objections  of  the  board  of  superin- 
tendents. The  subject  should  pass  in  order  through  the  councils 
again.  The  attendance  of  members  of  the  supervising  force  upon 
the  meetings  for  the  reconsideration  of  questions  would  clarify 
the  thought  of  all,  provided  there  was  no  suspicion  of  an  effort  to 
have  the  objections  sustained  because  of  the  official  position  of  the 
objectors. 

If  the  result  of  the  second  discussion  shows  the  original  recom- 
mendation by  the  council  again  sustained,  and  the  superintendent  upon 
receipt  of  the  report  believes  the  majority  of  teachers  and  principals 
mistaken,  there  should  be  no  further  effort  made  to  secure  the  adoption 
of  his  views  by  vote  of  the  councils.  He  should  act  in  accordance  with 
his  own  Judgment,  and  be  held  responsible  for  the  outcome.  No  one 
would  receive  the  decision  of  the  superintendent  as  something  strange, 
unknown,  to  be  incorporated  in  the  work.  The  deliberations  would  have 
familiarized  all  with  the  essentials  involved,  and  those  sharp  breaks  in 
theory  and  practice  which  have  been  made  in  the  past  would  no  longer 
be  possible.  Education  would  be  a  continuous  process,  based  on 
theory ;  not  mere  experimentation,  based  on  personal  preferences. 

The  most  difficult  line  of  action  to  pursue  is  that  which  respects 
the  rights  of  other  minds;  not  the  rights  of  property,  but  of  thought. 


FUNCTION  OF  A  SCHOOL  IN  A  DEMOCRACY  57 

The  number  that  can  yield  these  rights  to  their  owners  is  limited.  To 
break  down  the  barriers  of  selfishness  behind  which,  in  our  assumed 
strength,  we  intrench  ourselves  ;  to  participate  in  helpful  communion 
with  those  who  as  yet  have  less  experience  than  we,  is  to  become  an 
active  member  of  a  democratic  solidarity.  In  such  a  solidarity  will 
life  in  the  school  be  noble. 

In  monarchies  and  aristocracies  it  may  be  that  the  perpetuation  of 
the  particular  form  of  government  is  dependent  upon  training  the  young 
for  the  station  in  life  for  which  each  is  by  the  social  organization  destined. 
In  this  government  the  young  cannot  be  trained  for  any  particular  sta- 
tion, for  no  one  can  foretell  what  that  will  be.  Simply  training  free 
individualities  will  not  suffice.  Professor  Mead  makes  plain  the  dif- 
ference between  the  ancient  and  the  modern  conception  of  free  indi- 
viduality :  "Greece  furnishes  a  perfect  illustration  of  the  distinction 
between  the  freedom  of  the  individual  as  an  individual  and  the  free- 
dom of  the  individual  as  a  factor  in  an  organization  ;  leeway  was  given 
to  individual  opinion  or  speculation,  but  recognition  of  the  individual 
as  an  organic  part  of  the  community  was  unknown.  In  the  mediaeval 
period  the  individual  and  his  development  came  into  the  public  con- 
sciousness." In  America  today  more  than  leeway  in  individual  opin- 
ion is  needed  ;  more  than  the  recognition  of  the  individual  and  his 
development.  From  the  entrance  upon  the  first  year  in  the  kinder- 
garten till  the  close  of  the  student  life,  if  the  school  functions  as 
an  intrinsic  part  of  this  democracy,  the  child,  the  youth,  and  the 
teacher  will  each  be  an  organic  factor  in  an  organization  where  rights 
and  duties  will  be  inseparable  ;  where  the  free  movement  of  thought 
will  develop  great  personalities. 


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